The Progressive School Vol 01 Issue 04

VOL 01, ISSUE 04 JUL-AUG-SEP-2017 ` 150 

smart class: 

a blessing! 

Mamta Wadhwa 

Principal, Manav Rachna 

International School, Faridabad 

THE SMART 

SCHOOL 

PEDAGOGY 

Capt. (IN) Alokesh Sen (Retd.) 

Principal, Birla Public School, Pilani 

innovate and 

upgrade with 

changing times 

Jitender Singh Ahlawat 

Director, R.E.D. Society, 

Chhuchhakwas, Haryana 

towards holistic 

and balanced 

growth of students 

Madhavi Alapati 

Executive director, Prachin Global School, 

Hyderabad 

What makes 

a school 

really ‘smart’ 

Dr Priyadarshi Nayak 

Principal, Prelude Public School, Agra 

creating 

a smart 

learning 

environment... 

Pavitra Rao 

Chairperson, 

RPS Public School 

Rewari, Haryana

Jul-Aug-Sep, 2017 Vol. 01 No. 04 

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rial 

Towards Smart learning 

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Greetings! 

The sound and fury of the examinations and their results across the country is almost over! 

As usual, the examinations posed several questions than answers. This year also, many 

questions have surfaced – the objectives of question papers, the need for moderation, the 

credibility of marks, the cut-throat competition for performance and several other related 

things. Questions have also been raised about the way the school fraternity has used the 

results “to launch their brands” and for effective marketing for numbers. Some questions 

are indeed difficult to find answers in a composite culture of thinking and in evolving 

social systems. Several of these issues need to be addressed in a collective manner, not for 

the purposes of effective governance, but as partners in a responsible global community. 

The new National Policy on Education is still in discussion. The academic community is waiting 

for the new brew that would shape the destiny of our classrooms in future. The strong focus on 

“skill development” is a welcome initiative, but the concept of ‘skills’ should not be celebrated in 

isolation. The success lies in effective and meaningful synergy between knowledge and skills. It 

would call for ‘inter-disciplinary’ and ‘multi-disciplinary’ thinking among educators and educational 

administrators. This paradigm shift calls for cooperation and collaboration between the fields of 

education, industry, business and trade. Time has come to break down some formal walls that 

separate our “thinking classrooms.” 

Learning has become both personal and global. It will be extremely difficult to examine the 

permutations and combinations of both the sources and resources that facilitate and impact 

learning. To restrain learning and pedagogy to the structures and fonts implanted in any single 

textbook, will not yield the desired results. Learning will happen despite such restrictions, possibly 

with a pace and style that is previously unknown. We need to ‘celebrate’ learning and ‘enable’ our 

learners to open the windows of their curiosity to breathe the freshness of the future. The emerging 

challenges to the ‘partners in progress’ in the education industry is indeed worrying. It is likely 

to deter ‘entrepreneurs’ from making safe and purposeful investments in the cause of education. 

Education is a social responsibility and ‘togetherness’ is the way of the future. 

The last issue of “The Progressive School” has been welcomed by many friends of the fraternity. 

The focus on safety, both infrastructural and emotional, has been applauded by many as the need 

of the hour. The in-depth analysis of some of the issues and the inputs that would help schools, they 

felt, will be quite useful for long time. I thank the authors and the editorial team for their efforts. 

Over the last couple of years, the concept of “Smart Schools” has been on the focus. The 

idea has latent in it both myths and realities. Questions have been raised whether a superlative 

infrastructure or the induction of current technologies would be indicators, if any, for the smart 

Schools? How far they are likely to impact the quality of learning and teaching? Or do they continue 

to remain as marketing strategies? How could pedagogical inputs be smart enough to empower 

creative thinking and holistic development of learner’s profile? Is the idea of smart schools just 

urban? Many of these issues have been debated and senior principals and teachers have voiced 

their views in the current issue. I thank them for their candid views which would throw light on 

removing some myths. 

The journey to empowerment is an ongoing process both for learners and learning communities. 

“The Progressive School” is committed to walk hand in hand with the learning community to make 

this journey meaningful, focused, educative and enjoyable! In this direction, your contribution will 

go a long way. Come and join us! 


Editor-in-chief 

Quotable Quotes 

A good teacher can inspire 

hope, ignite the imagination, 

and instill a love of learning. 

–Brad Henry 

The one exclusive sign of 

thorough knowledge is the 

power of teaching. 

–Aristotle 

jan-FEB-MAR 2017 

The task of the modern 

educator is not to cut down 

jungles, but to irrigate deserts. 

–C. S. Lewis 

THE PROGRESSIVE SCHOOL 

3

C O N T E 

Jul-aug-sep 2017 Vol. 01 No. 04 

06 

Smart class: a blessing! 

The concept of smart class education is indeed a blessing 

to the students of the 21st Century. Technology is changing 

the way life functions and if it’s for the good, then why not 

go for it! 

Mamta Wadhwa 

Principal, Manav Rachna International School 

16 

The Smart Schools Pedagogy 

Smart school pedagogy aims to make learning more meaningful. 

It makes teaching learning process interesting, motivating and 

stimulating. Captain Alokesh Sen (Retd), Principal, Birla Public 

School, Pilani; Manila Karvalho, Principal DPS Bangalore East and 

R. Srinivasa Raghavan, Principal, Bala Vidya Mandir Sr. Sec. School, 

Adyar, Chennai, share their views on smart schools. Excerpts. 

32 

Ensuring maximum learning for 

the 21 st Century learners 

Smart classroom is indeed a blessing, all you need to 

do is to give it a try and reap the benefits in the form of 

students’ achievement. 

Rohit Mann, Director 

Lancers International School 

41 

Inspirational leadership– 

a transformational education 

Learning is one of the most important activities in which humans 

engage. It is the very core of educational process, though Einstein 

has said, “I never let my education interfere with my learning.” It 

is important to be able to determine through theory and evidence 

about the nature, causes and consequences for schools and students 

success through inspirational leadership. 

Rupa Chakravarty 

Principal, Suncity School, Gurgaon, Haryana 

4 THE PROGRESSIVE SCHOOL jul-aug-sep 2017

N T S 

53 

“Innovate and upgrade with changing times” 

says Jitender Singh Ahlawat, Director, R.E.D. Group of Schools, in conversation 

with Varsha Verma. 

The role of an educationist is to promote education while upholding the morals 

of students. He is a parallel parent, nurturing children as they grow. Jitender 

Singh Ahlawat, director, R.E.D. Group of Schools is one such educationist 

who has devoted thirty years of his life into education. Here, he shares more 

about his experience of working in a rural environment, where even the basic 

amenities are a challenge. Excerpts. 


Director, R.E.D. Society, 

56 

Making schools tech-savvy… 

Education can be best interpreted as a process of learning, growth & 

achievement. Education basically is for the purpose of preparing for 

future & being equipped with the latest today. Innovation & research 

have always gone hand in hand with education and Smart schools is 

the next big thing. 

Vatsala Singh 

Director (Education & Administration) at M P Singh Foundation, 

Delhi Public School, Dehradun 

IN THIS ISSUE 

Editorial 03 

Towards Smart learning 

viewpoint 06 

Smart class: a blessing! 

Outlook 10 

Smart Schools –A myth or a reality? 

Vision 12 

Towards holistic and balanced growth of students 

Q&A 16 

The smart schools pedagogy 

Smart Environment 21 

Creating a smart learning environment... 

opinion 23 

Smart school – a myth or reality? 

Smart educator: need of the day! 

spotlight 24 

Raghuvansh Academy in Kanpur bridging 

rural-urban education gap 

Enhanced learning 26 

Towards a student-centred 

learning experience... 

the future 30 

Liberate learning 

Opinion 32 


the 21 st century learners 

Indicators 36 

The indicators of a smart school 

Opinion 38 

What makes a school really smart? 

vision 41 


A transformational education 

mission 43 

There is a need for career– 

oriented learning in schools 

progress 46 

Blended learning: the best of both worlds 

Face-to-face 48 

Education is not a business, 

it is a noble profession 

E-learning 51 

E-learning: the future of education 

meet the educationist 53 

Innovate and upgrade with changing times 

viewpoint 56 

Making schools tech-savy... 

social networking 58 

Social networks–a boon or a bane? 

news & events 61 

jul-aug-sep 2017 


5

viewpoint 

Smart class: 

a blessing! 

Mamta Wadhwa 

Principal, Manav Rachna International School, Faridabad 

The concept of smart class education is indeed a blessing to the students of the 21st Century. 

Technology is changing the way life functions and if it’s for the good, then why not go for it! 

Smart classes use all interactive 

modules like videos and 

presentations and these visually 

attractive methods of teaching becomes 

appealing to students who are already 

Mamta Wadhwa is Principal 

at Manav Rachna International 

School, Sector-14, Faridabad, since 

November 2007. She has also served 

as a Principal at Ryan International 

School, Faridabad and as a teacher 

at Laxman Public School, New Delhi. 

She has been awarded Shiksha Ratan 

Award by Private School Association 

of Haryana and Best District Principal 

Award 2016-17 by Science Olympiads 

Foundation. She has also been honored 

by The British High Commission for 

the commitment and service to the 

society in promoting better education 

using English. 

struggling with the traditional method 

of teaching in a classroom. In fact, 

smart classes are almost like watching 

movies as sometimes, animated visuals 

are used to teach a point. This kind of 

visual is both eye-catching and young 

students can easily relate with them. 

This is because the audio-visual senses 

of students are targeted and it helps the 

students store the information fast and 

more effectively. And then, there is the 

advantage of utilising much of the time 

wasted earlier in drawing or preparing 

diagrams on board. Smartboards have 

all these information in memory and can 

be presented during the time of class 

lectures and thus, the time saved can be 

used in more important things. 

It improves teachers’ effectiveness 

and productivity in the class. For every 

subject, there are numerous resources 

available on the internet which can be 

accessed by the teachers as well as the 

students at any time in a smart classroom. 

Internet plays a major role in learning 

process. Today’s students are curious to 

know about everything. They want to 

gain extra knowledge about the ongoing 

6 THE PROGRESSIVE SCHOOL jul-AUG-SEP 2017

topic in the class. The student’s attention 

is also not divided in writing and listening 

to the teacher simultaneously. Now the 

resources are given to the students in 

pen drives, CDs, or they are emailed to 

them. In this way, the students do not 

have to write for making notes. Notes 

are provided to them and they can devote 

their full concentration to the lecture. As 

it is an interactive resource, it enables 

instant formative assessment of learning 

outcomes in the class. We all know how 

helpful it is to remember something 

that is taught visually to us rather than 

the one that is read through pages after 

pages. The new inventions in the fields of 

computer science and technology would 

definitely make teaching and learning 

even much better. It connects students, 

teachers and devices to turn lessons into 

enriching learning experiences. 

Learning opportunities 

immense in smart 

environment… 

A Smart School environment helps to 

democratize education. The Smart School 

programme provides equal access to 

learning opportunities. It may increase 

creativity, critical thinking, problemsolving, 

decision-making and learning. 

It may improve communication and 

collaboration. It teaches new tools for 

working such as ICT and information 

literacy. It will teach skills for life 

and career, and personal and social 

responsibility. 

Once students realize that they 

can play a major role in their own 

learning without the constant guidance 

of teachers or tutors, they will explore new 

avenues; they may become entrepreneurs, 

inventors, think out of the box, develop 

critical thinking skills, learn to compare 

and contrast, analyze, develop curiosity 

to learn more and more and definitely be 

tech savvy. Today’s generation is already 

tech savvy right from childhood, through 

exposure to smart phones and tablets 

in the household. Continuing this tech 

savvy atmosphere in the classroom will 

be advantageous as the child is already 

accustomed to it at home. Here the 

learner can access such a vast storehouse 

of information that his knowledge will 

definitely exceed that of the regular 

school curriculum. 

A classroom has students with varied 

power of understanding and learning, 

and studying from notes and other 

materials becomes difficult for some 

students. But the use of smart classes and 

modern technology eases the learning 

process for all students. Moreover, this 

kind of education in class promotes more 

interaction between teacher and student 

with more participation from both sides. 

It is often seen that the students 

studying in a smart class get a better 

result than the students studying in a 

conventional class. This is so because 

the understanding ability in the students 

studying in a smart classroom is way 

more than other students. The use of 

technology in the classroom for teaching 

increases the understanding of the 

students. The topic becomes clearer and 

the base of the subject becomes stronger. 

Obviously, the students with better hold 

of the subject and with strong basic 

knowledge of the subject will score more 

in exams. 

Empowering 

individualized learning… 

Smart schools can help in empowering 

individualised learning through computer 

assisted instruction which provides 

immediate feedback to the learners as 

well as teacher for bringing necessary 

improvement. Such types of instructions 

cater to the different learning needs of the 

students prevalent in the class. In order to 

tap different learning styles, effective use 

of technology can differentiate our low 

and high students. The software’s and 

interactive games can be programmed 

from lower to higher level. One can select 

if they want information in visual form, 

auditory form or both audio visual form 

Smart experience at Manav 

Rachna International School, 

Faridabad 

O 

ur school is well equipped with smart boards in almost all the classes. 

When initially it was adopted, it was a challenge for the teachers as well 

for the students. The white boards changed into ‘Smart Boards’. 

A group of teachers was given proper training wherein they were taught 

to make its best usage. They were 

also tested upon making sure that its 

application would be fruitful and to the 

maximum. This group of teachers further 

trained their peers. 

The various functions of the smart 

board were very mesmerizing. It not only 

saved a lot of time but also helped the 

teachers in acquiring the readymade 

material supported by 3D applications 

wherever required. This made the 

chapters interesting for the students. 

They were attracted to the new method 

of teaching. Now their focus increased many folds. 

The chapters could be taught in many different ways. The internet connection 

made it easy for them to further appraise their knowledge right in the classroom 

itself. The topic was not restricted to the content printed in the book only now; 

it would turn into a healthy discussion involving all the students in the class. 

While, the interactive board allowed different forms of media- including 

photos, illustrations, maps, graphs, frames and videos to be displayed. These 

tools not only enriched the class room experience but also expanded the nature 

of content that could be used in learning. 

jul-AUG-SEP 2017 


7

as per the individual need of the learner. 

Similarly, it gives a child flexibility to 

submit assignments on the basis of their 

learning type. For example, a project on 

pollution can be submitted by the student 

in form of presentation, write up (typed 

or handwritten), song, project (made on 

computer or handwritten). 

To address the differentiated learners, 

the teacher can give clear and short 

instructions, be creative in lessons, using 

bright visuals but also keeping it simple. 

For example, putting entire multiplication 

table when you are really working on the 

table of 5 can be overwhelming. 

The teacher can empower the child 

with homework, reminders, planners 

and to-do-list. This will help the child 

to be more organised and will help 

getting parents involved in the homework 


‘Smart teachers’: a must in 

smart environment… 

A smart class room would involve 

using a smart board or white board 

instead of the traditional blackboard 

with its chalk and talk. Whiteboards 

allow many different forms of media such 

as photos, illustrations, maps, graphs, 

games, and video, to be displayed. 

With smart boards, the teachers 

would have to familiarize themselves 

with all these resources such as 

knowledge databases, online video and 

news items to reinforce their lessons 

and be constantly online to ensure that 

they are up to date. All teachers cannot 

use smart technology for teaching. The 

teachers have to be trained before they 

can start teaching in a smart classroom. 

The teachers are to be trained to use the 

technology in an effective manner. They 

are also to be trained to handle faults 

in the gadgets. If the teachers are not 

properly trained, the technology would 

become a disturbing factor rather than 

becoming helpful. 

All the electronic devices are prone to 

faults. If the equipments do not work one 

day, the day is considered as a waste. They 

require a lot of time to come back to their 

proper functioning state. No teaching 

can be done on that day. In this case, the 

teacher should always be ready for an 

alternative methodology for teaching that 

is, using the blackboard. But this would 

be very dull experience for the teachers 

as well as the students who are regularly 

participating in smart classrooms. The 

workload of the teachers is also increased 

as they have to prepare the topic as per 

two different methodologies of teaching. 

A smart class is equipped with many 

gadgets. Inspite of ample training, the 

teacher might not be able to use its 

benefits to the fullest. Lack of technical 

expertise to maneuver these challenges 

may cause teachers to become frustrated 

and underutilized techniques. 

Some teachers might not be efficient 

enough to catch up with the constant 

change in technology. It also becomes 

difficult to convince the teacher who 

has been following the routine method of 

teaching for years. Teachers would have 

to keep track of online learning software, 

e learning tutorials, online multimedia 

lessons, educational websites, online 

training, online two way conversation, 

online video chatting, high speed internet 

speed etc. It is an endless process. 

As soon as one masters one, another 

appears. They have to be well updated 

with the latest technology and its usage. 

Today’s generation is that of explorers, 

therefore the teacher will have to become 

the explorer too so that he /she can deliver 

with confidence and cope up with current 

challenges. 


outlook 

Smart Schools– 

a myth or a reality? 

Avnita Bir 

Director-Principal at R N Podar School, Mumbai. 

In Twitter lingo, the term ‘Personalization in Education’ 

is trending and smart schools have become the 

buzzword for new age schools and edtech companies. 

They are increasingly being seen as the panacea 

for those wanting to jump onto the bandwagon of 

imparting 21st century skills to students. But, are smart 

schools a reality? 

The advent of technology in the 

classroom has meant different 

things to different stakeholders. 

For school managements, it provided 

the much-needed frill value that could 

distinguish their schools from the rest. 

For teachers, it forebodes a sense of 

fear and trepidation that any change at 

workplace brings with it. For parents, it 

signaled a better education albeit at an 

increased cost. Not many understood how 

technology should or could be integrated 

seamlessly into the teaching-learning 

process. And myth and reality became 

inseparable! While schools recognized 

that technology was a reality they could 

not ignore if they had to survive in the 

21st century, not many understood the 

layers and the nuances of the same. 

Ranging all the way from devices and 

hardware, to software, ERP solutions, 

Learning Management Systems, apps, 

social, collaborative, productivity tools, 

to digital content, assessment tools and 

data-driven achievement analytics, smart 

schools acquired new meaning in the 

Avnita Bir is an economist and the 

Director-Principal of the R. N. Podar 

School in Mumbai. She has worked in 

the Indian education system for more 

than 15 years, and she was a curator 

for Learn Shift India 2012, a conference 

held at Delhi, which was aimed at 

exchanging ideas on transforming 

Indian education. 

SOPs of schools. A paradigm shift 

in education was being heralded! 

Case file… 

R N Podar School has always 

been a technology-driven school. 

Situated in the densely populated 

city of Mumbai, and facing many 

unique constraints of both space 

and time, we had to increasingly 

look for solutions that would help 

us to overcome our challenges 

efficiently and effectively. 

Technology used appropriately 

and prudently, proved to be a 

great boon in a resource-strapped 

school. The fact that we could 

self-learn, customize and improvise our 

interface with new tools added to the 

comfort that we felt in integrating them 

into our school. 

For us, technology has become 

synonymous with empowerment. It has 

meant a kind of liberation from routine 

tasks that could now be performed more 

efficiently and effectively and have 

brought the excitement back into our 

work life. Starting from Smart boards 

in classrooms, educational content 

and software for different subjects, to 

teachers learning to make PowerPoint 

presentations and creating their own 

content, generic digital content and 

animations to catch the attention of 

students, our classrooms continued to 

evolve as we experimented with Cloud 

Computing and use of Google Apps for 

Education, went on to do a pilot with 

Khan Academy and explored the benefits 

of Flipped Classrooms. 

The joy came not from getting a 

new ready-made solution by an edtech 

company that designed products in 

their silos and often didn’t understand 

the teachers’ needs or the students’ 

psychology. The exhilaration that 

teachers felt when they discovered, 

tried out and learnt to use a new tool to 

engage their students, the aha feeling 

of success after a series of failures, the 

strengthening of the bond between 

the teacher and her students as both 

embarked on a journey of learning… 

all pointed to an organic process of 

integrating technology seamlessly into 

the teaching-learning process. 

What evolved as a result of this tryst 

with technology was not just buy-in from 

the teachers but the building of a culture 

of innovation and creative problem 

solving. We explored the use of Design 

Thinking and Maker DIY activities that 

encouraged creative thinking and led 

to the building of creative confidence 

among students as well as teachers. A 

whole new world of possibilities opened 

up even as we redefined the teachinglearning 

process. Technology and Smart 

classrooms were enablers to enhance the 


teaching-learning process and not to add 

to the frill value of a school. The level of 

technology integration was need-based 

and customized to suit the requirements 

of the students and teachers. The fact that 

technology freed us from a ‘one size fits 

all’ approach was a great boon even as 

we handled large class sizes. Technology 

and Smart Classrooms became a way of 

life and a mindset for us at school even 

as we enjoyed going beyond traditional 

boundaries. 

Using technology as a boon 

So how can the technology-enabled 

smart schools help solve the trickiest 

educational problems in a scalable, 

sustainable way? We all know that 

technology unevenly applied and 

inappropriately deployed, can cause 

more damage than benefit. Hence there 

is need for prudent and judicious use of 

the same. The following pointers could 

dispel the misgivings anyone could have 

about embracing technology in schools. 

• Use technology as a motivator for 

teachers to experiment and innovate. 

And not something to be feared. 

Create a culture in which new ideas 

thrive and are nurtured. This would 

require handholding and encouraging 

Avnita Bir 

new incumbents to step out of comfort 

zones. 

• Use technology to strengthen the 

human relationships between 

stakeholders. The greatest danger 

lies in the teacher’s personal touch 

being replaced by an animation or 

automated response system. 

• Use technology to improve/enhance 

the face time between the teacher 

and the taught. 

• Technology, creativity and pedagogy 

have to be made compatible for the 

smart class to be successful. It is 

at the intersection of all three that 

we can see innovation in education 

taking place. Remote centers of 

content or tech development in 

isolation of schools will not work. 

• Technology has to be simple, 

smooth, easy to use, almost invisible, 

supporting pedagogy, customizable, 

adaptive, not just student-centric but 

also teacher-centric. 

We are living in times of exponential 

and disruptive changes and the way to 

cope with the times is by being agile and 

adaptive in order to respond appropriately 

to the environment. Our children have 

never experienced the pre-Google era and 

as the world changes around us, we have 

to allow the winds of change to open our 

minds to new possibilities while at the 

same time being rooted in the human 

values that support us. It is imperative 

that schools approach the subject of 

technology and smart classrooms with 

due caution and integrate the same based 

on their school’s individual philosophy 

and culture. 



11

vision 

Towards holistic and 

balanced growth of students 

Madhavi Alapati 

Madhavi Alapati, Executive Director of Prachin Global Schools, Hyderabad 

Smart school system is brilliant and should be adopted in schools for more effective teaching– 

learning process. If it is implemented in true letter and spirit it will make our educational system 

superior and our students best in class. 

A 

narrow definition of a smart 

school is one which integrates 

the latest technologies in the 

organizational level and in teaching 

so as to optimize the learning process. 

The smart school ensures state-of-theart 

infrastructure internet connectivity 

to all the classrooms, a digital library, 

inter-active audio visual facilities to the 

teachers and students and so on. 

The school utilizes all the software 

at its disposal to derive the maximum 

efficiency in the administration as well 

as the learning process of the educand. 

Unlike other types of schools, there 

is no undue apprehension of periodic 

tests and assessments which expose 

the children to unnecessary stress 

which could be detrimental to optimum 

performance of the students. Further, a 

virtual school can be created at home 

where parents, teachers and students 

communicate with each other through 

social networking – mobiles, tabs, e-mails 

Madhavi Alapati is the Executive 

Director of Prachin Global Schools, 

Hyderabad. She is an ardent admirer 

of children and passionate about 

imparting qualitative and holistic 

education to every child in the school. 

The dream of identifying and nurturing 

the hidden talents of the students by 

providing world-class infrastructural 

facilities is unfolding day by day. 

The educational strategies backed 

up by the latest technology and 

committed staff is creating a smart 

learning atmosphere in the school, 

thus creating a positive impact in the 

region. 


etc. This will provide space for a child 

to respond with greater freedom and 

creativity in his comfort zone. 

When all the dimensions are taken 

into consideration, no doubt, the 

smart schools create a huge impact in 

comparison with other types of schools 

in the present day scenario of education. 

Further, the administrative system 

should effectively manage the resources 

and process required to support the 

teaching and learning functions. Greater 

efficiency is achieved through technology, 

in management of student affairs, 

facilities, resources both external and 

human, and financial management. 

Books and pens have given way to 

touchscreen, be it at work or for leisure. 

Cumbersome paper work is reduced 

because the software helps to maintain 

all records thus giving a shot in the arm 

for efficiency. 

Smart Schools facilitate education to 

reach out to students around the globe 

individually as well as developing online 

learning clusters. 

Smart learning practices… 

The objective of a smart school is 

to cater to the all-round development of 

the individual – intellectual, physical, 

emotional and social. It has to create the 

ambience to enhance individual skills, 

promote creativity and problem-solving 

skills, activate thinking skills, instill 

social responsibility, inculcate health 

consciousness, and maintain emotional 

balance so as to mould an integrated 

personality. 

In order to involve all the stakeholders 

in this process, the use of technology is 

vital. The school has to empower the 

administrative system to communicate 

with all the stakeholders – administrative 

staff, teachers, students and parents, 

and pass on relevant information at the 

appropriate time for greater efficiency 

and increased learning outcomes. Thus 

Madhavi Alapati, Executive Director of Prachin Global Schools, Hyderabad 

the pooling of all external resources 

ultimately provides a comprehensive 

resource database which enables easy 

storage and retrieval of all student data as 

and when required, thus giving a thrust 

to smart learning processes catering 

to individual needs. Student-centric 

learning is the hallmark of this system. 

E-learning assists teachers and students. 

It is interactive and motivates students 

to participate with greater enthusiasm. 

The audio–video back-up sustains 

interest level. However a brand of web 

based learning and relevant teaching 

methods can be ideal to enhance learning 

outcomes. 

Smart and effective learning 

model 

The smart school creates the best 

learning ambience to ensure an upward 

graph in the children’s confidence 

level and as a consequence children 

become articulate, more aware of their 

surroundings, and get actively engaged 

with the world around them. The end 

result is that the academic and social 

potential tend to reach the zenith. 

Unlike traditional schools in a smart 

school, the curriculum, the methodology, 

the assessment modules, and the 

academic activities are not rigid or 

stringent. The teachers and students can 

utilize a variety of multimedia tools which 

takes the students to much higher levels 

of learning experience. 

Smart schools have a long term vision 

and hence it keeps up with the times 

using technologies in disseminating the 

up-to-date information in view of the fast 

changing world. 

The students are enabled to respond 

effectively to the day-to-day challenges 

and opportunities that prop up due to the 

rapid changes. 

Our education should re-affirm the 

commitment to uphold values of justice, 

truth, non- violence, respect for society 

and create a sense of duty. 

Challenges teachers face… 

The Smart school up-dates 

itself with new teaching – learning 

strategies providing technology which is 

cosmetically and technically advanced 

ensuring quality and variety so as to 

make the curriculum effective. 

As a result, the biggest challenge 

that the teachers face is to keep oneself 

abreast with the changing scenario. The 

capacity of the instructors to switch over 

methodologies to the latest smart boards 

and technology based contents are huge 

challenges especially for those who have 

been in the comfort zone of the traditional 

system. 

‘Orthodoxy’ which has deep roots 



13

in conventional methods always tend 

to justify the time tested strategies, 

partially because of the fear caused 

by the challenges that the uphill task 

of ‘Changeover’ brings with it, and 

sometimes genuinely the inability to cope 

up with the fast changing technologies 

every minute, every hour. 

Customized teaching to suit individual 

skills of each student differentiates smart 

methods from existing methods which 

expects every student to fall in line, is often 

met with resistance because it needs more 

creativity, skill and patience. However if 

this transition is accepted with a positive 

attitude and implemented effectively the 

outcome itself is a great reward. 

Empowering learners for 

learning beyond a routine 

curriculum 

A smart school need not physically 

exist to be a school. Different from the four 

walled enclosure, one could host class 

rooms online supported by the various 

technology based learning systems. 

The smart school curriculum is 

designed to ensure holistic and balanced 

growth in all facets of a person. There is no 

doubt that an integration of knowledge, 

skills, creativity, co – related values, 

suitable attitudes, and capacity building 

measures are essential to keep up with 

the times. The smart curriculum ensures 

quality learning, creating an ambience for 

self- paced learning, thus differentiating 

it from routine curricula. 

The smart school pedagogy sets 

specific learning goals. It promotes 

creativity and experimentation, attempts 

smart teaching – learning strategies, 

encourages diversity to enhance personal 

skills, customizes inputs to match 

individual interests, capacities, needs 

and learning styles. The assessment 

patterns are designed with a goal to test 

whether the learner is equipped with this 

learning area and ready to move on to 

higher levels indicating progress. If the 

objectives are not met, the smart system, 

based on multiple intelligence theories, 

expects the strengths, weakness and 

needs to be diagnosed again so as to 

adapt to the individual learning styles 

further, so that no one is left behind. The 

curriculum seeks to raise achievement 

levels of all the students. 

Smart school system is brilliant and 

should be adopted in schools for more 

effective teaching – learning process. 

There ought to be challenges at every 

step, but if it is implemented in true letter 

and spirit it will make our educational 

system and our students superior. 


Q&A 

The Smart Schools 

Pedagogy 

Birla Public School, Pilani 

Smart school pedagogy aims to make learning more meaningful. It makes teaching learning process interesting, motivating and 

stimulating. Captain Alokesh Sen (Retd), Principal, Birla Public School, Pilani; Manila Karvalho, Principal DPS Bangalore East and R. 

Srinivasa Raghavan, Principal, Bala Vidya Mandir Sr. Sec. School, Adyar, Chennai, share their views on smart schools. Excerpts. 

How can you define a smart school? What merits do a “Smart School” command in delivering an 

effective learning model? What challenges do teachers face in delivering pedagogy in a “Smart 

Environment”? And how do smart schools empower learners for learning beyond a routine 

curriculum? These are a few questions which arise when we think of smart schools. Here, we spoke 

to principals of three different schools to know about their views on the same. 

Q: What are the indicators of a “Smart 

School”? How does a smart school 

differ from other types of schools? 

Captain Alokesh Sen (Retd): A 

smart school, in my opinion, is the one 

which constantly contend with the 

demands and challenges of a rapidly 

changing, increasingly high tech and 

global environment. Therefore, in 

addition to the academics, students are 

exposed to broader interdisciplinary 

and cultural education. It is not only 

the technology that’s the indicator 

of a smart school. Smart school 

pedagogy aims to make learning more 

meaningful. It makes teaching and 

learning process interesting, motivating 

and stimulating. A school which uses 

advanced educational technology, 

expensive resources and infrastructure 

does not come under the category of 

smart school if it fails to involve the 

children’s mind, spirit and body in the 

learning process. 

Unlike other schools, the smart 

school teachers employ a variety of 

multimedia tools for enhanced learning. 

The curriculum and guidelines are 

flexible. A smart school has a student 

management system in place and this 

system automates many processes of the 

institution and allows the facilitators to 

concentrate on teaching and learning. 

Capt. (IN) Alokesh Sen, Principal, 

Birla Public School, Pilani, has been 

in the field of education since last 

32 years. Since last fifteen years, he 

has been the Principal of prestigious 

schools like Sainik School, Tamil 

Nadu; the Hyderabad Public School, 

Begumpeth and currently he is the 

Principal of Vidya Niketan Birla 

Public School, Pilani, Rajasthan since 

December 2010. He regularly writes for 

various leading education magazines 

in the country. 

Delhi Public School, Bangalore East 


Captain Alokesh Sen (Retd), Principal, Birla Public School, Pilani 

Manila Carvalho, Principal, DPS, Bangalore East 

A Smart school prepares the students 

to be life ready and productive world 

citizens. 

Manila Carvalho: In my opinion, some 

of the indicators of a smart school are- 

• School staff possessing the feeling 

of being smart which is essential for 

self-motivation. 

• Having a comfortable school structure. 

• Qualified and empathetic teaching as 

well as non-teaching staff. 

• Required amount of campus area. 

• Uninterrupted power supply. 

• Feasible accessibility to school. 

• Viable communication with the 

various stakeholders of the school. 

• Preparing children for the future 

anticipating the technological 

advancement. 

• Being eco-friendly. 

• Building in the sense of globalization 

among the staff and the students. 

• Introducing vocational courses in the 

curriculum. 

• Minimising the staff attrition rate in 

the school. 

• Implementing updated curriculum. 

• Enforcing policies in terms of safety 

measures of the students. 

• Organising teacher empowerment 

programmes from time to time. 

Smart school will have a cohesive group 

which will look into its growth in all its 

directions. The thought process of the 

Management and the Principal will 

percolate down till the class IV staff of the 

school. All speak of the same goals and 

desires. They will “walk the talk” in their 

aspiration to succeed. Learning is made 

memorable and enjoyable in these types 

of schools. Right from the management 

till the attender, all are well groomed 

in soft skills. Smart schools welcome 

change for the better. 

R. Srinivasa Raghavan: Schools 

having the smart board, projector alone 

cannot be called as smart schools. 

Effective utilization of the technology 

in administration, communication with 

stakeholders, academic transactions 

and providing platform for the students 

to interact productively with peers 

and academicians globally make the 

difference between smart schools and 

others. Thus, a smart school is one 

where: 

• Students interact with other students 

and develop thriving online learning 

communities- able to access and 

understand the current research and 

developments 

• Practicing collaborative learning with 

the rest of the world. 

• Fast recovery of information & data 

with practically no loss of details 

stored. 

• Learning happens outside the school 

hours as well. 

Q: Do external resources and the 

technological ambience define a 

“Smart School”? How does it 

contribute if any, to smart learning 

practices? 

Captain Alokesh Sen (Retd): Only 

external resources and the technological 

ambience doesn’t define a Smart School 

but yes, these play an important part. 

Smart Schools are supposed to use the 

best global practices and education 

administration processes so as to 

understand and cater to their students’ 

needs. The technology helps the facilitators 

to organize, accommodate and optimize 

the learning process of the students. This 

could include latest ideas of the flipped 

classroom, blended learning and even 

BYODs (Bring Your Own Device). 

Manila Carvalho: In the present context 

of schooling, external resources and 


Manila Carvalho is currently 

the Principal at DPS Bangalore East. 

She has been felicitated with CBSE 

Mentor Award 2014. A Master in 

Psychology and a Master in Education, 

Manila is a vibrant leader. She has a 

teaching & administrative experience 

of more than 26 years. Her zeal for 

Inclusive Education has led to the 

accommodation of many differently 

challenged students into the main 

stream. She is a Research Scholar from 

Annamali University. 


17

the technological ambience does play 

a major role is projecting a school as 

a smart school. Having said that, we 

cannot consider them as smart schools 

if the facilities are underutilised in the 

administration department of the school 

or at the contextual understanding for 

the pupil. In the present educational 

trend, it is not a luxury but a necessity for 

a school to have technological ambience 

in its campus. This enables to speed up 

the work in a streamlined manner. Quick 

access to internet is a must. This enables 

the students as well the teachers to get 

any information within a short span of 

time. Visual learning for the children 

becomes interesting and will help them 

retain the content in their memory for a 

long time. Technology helps the children 

to Skype with the students of other schools 

as well as other countries for exchange of 

ideas and thought processes. It acts as 

a ‘buddy’ to complete their project work. 

MOOCs help them in various online 

courses. Students can access for free 

online coursers while they are studying 

& this enables them to acquire the 

required certificates before completing 

their graduation. Access for looking into 

the credentialy of various universities will 

enable the students to build in their profile 

accordingly. 

R. Srinivasa Raghavan: Certainly 

technological ambience define “Smart 

School”. However, external resources 

contribute a lot to the users. Smart 

schools should not depend only on their 

teachers/staff in the respective schools but 

should provide enough channels/guidance 

for the students to effectively use the 

R. Srinivasa Raghavan is currently 

working as Principal, Bala Vidya 

Mandir Sr. Sec. School, Adyar, Chennai. 

He has 24 years experience as School 

educator, Professor & Principal. He has 

taught Physics in CBSE, IB, Edexcel, 

Cambridge curriculums and worked 

as professor in Modern College of 

Business & Science, Oman affiliated 

to Univ. of Missouri, St. Louis, USA. 

He also served as a counsellor at 

IGNOU. Raghavan has done research 

and published several papers in the 

field of spectroscopic investigation 

and quantum computational analysis 

on immuno viral compounds. 

Student in their regular activities at Birla Public School, Pilani 

existing external resources available in 

the web world that are even given free of 

charge. This saves time and money for the 

individual and the organization. External 

resources provide greater input on recent 

developments as well as expertise which 

can supplement the existing resources in 

the school. 

Q: What merit do a “Smart School” 

command in delivering an effective 

learning model? Do such models have 

a better impact on learning compared 

to routine models? 

Captain Alokesh Sen (Retd): A smart 

school, in my opinion, prepares students 

to play his role effectively in the local 

and global society. In smart school, 

students remain at the centre point in 

contrast to the routine model where 

teacher remains important. The learning 

remains the focus in smart school model 

as compared to the teaching in traditional 

model. In routine model, the classrooms 

and the teaching learning activities 

within, remain the concerns of its pupils. 

However, in Smart school it is the entire 

ecosystem, surrounding the learners, like 

the society, its people, the environment, 

the happenings around, remains its 

concern. 

The Smart Learning Model caters to 

the Inclusive education, for the Multiple 


Intelligence and also the diverse social 

cultural and economic backgrounds of 

the pupils. 

The entire curriculum and the learning 

model of the smart schools equip its 

pupils to face 21st century challenges and 

prepares him to lead from the front. 

Manila Carvalho: While speaking of 

an effective learning model, a Smart 

School looks at a child centric approach. 

The learner is the key person around 

whom all the activities hover. It provides 

space for the learner to learn and relearn, 

trial and error opportunity, try and retry 

benefit, stop and restart facility, etc. It 

gives its student a wide horizon to look 

into various opportunities. Self-learning 

facilities kindle the curiosity in children. 

Since the children are born in the era of 

technology, it gives them a comfort zone 

to work on it for long hours without feeling 

bored or frustrated. Any activity done with 

interest will bring in the desired learning. 

And this learning will get accumulated in 

their knowledge bank. Any study material 

can be delivered to any number of students 

living in any part of the globe in a jiffy. 

Projection of visuals plays a great role in 

giving a concrete understanding of the 

object. Storing data is an added benefit 

and retrieving it as and when required 

works marvellously for the students. 

Assessments give online help in giving 

immediate feedback and thereby start the 

remediation. 

R. Srinivasa Raghavan: Going by one’s 

own resource/ knowledge, saturation 

may be reached sooner and later, it is just 

repetitive tutoring. Engaging teachers/ 

R. Srinivasa Raghavan, Principal, Bala Vidya 

Mandir Sr. Sec. School, Adyar, Chennai 

students in Smart use of technological 

resources enhances one’s own capability 

and skill in understanding the concepts. 

Visual aids provide greater depth to the 

subject learnt. Blogging with right group 

helps the students/ teachers gain wide 

knowledge and perspective of the topic. 

This results in developing people with 

better professionalism. 

Q: What challenges do teachers face 

in delivering pedagogy in a “Smart 

Environment”? How ‘smart’ teachers 

should be for a ‘change-over’ process 

to this new model? 

Captain Alokesh Sen (Retd): Delivering 

of pedagogy in a smart environment, by a 

teacher, has drastically shifted from the 

mundane teaching to, facilitating. This 

is because the advent of technology has 

made the pupils to become self learners. 

I personally feel that a teacher has to be 

tech savvy and stay abreast with latest 

global trends in school education in order 

to play the role of a perfect facilitator. It is 

a harsh truth. There is a strong need, for 

the teachers, for pursuing continuous 

professional development on the desired 

lines meticulously. Teacher training needs 

to be redesigned incorporating the new 

trends and challenges of making pupils 

smart learners. Teachers must keep 

away his/herself from pre-conceived notion 

on traditional teaching pedagogy and 

should have the capacity to adapt and 

create innovative and creative cosmos of 

learning for 21st century learners. 

Manila Carvalho: Classroom teaching 

has become a great challenge for the 

teachers. If a teacher is not tech savvy she 

is not suitable to take up the challenges 

that are required in the smart environment. 

Most of the teaching staff are not born with 

technology but are migrated to technology 

due to the need of the hour. While our 

students are born with the technology 

and are smarter in view of having a better 

understanding of it. Use of the technology 

comes in an easy manner to them. Most 

of our teachers who are used to the “chalk 

and talk” method, in spite of them being 

good at their content will not be able 

to create the impact on their students, 

when compared to the teacher who uses 

technology while teaching. Teacher must 

be updated about the availability of the 

resource material so as to guide the 

students accordingly rather than asking 

the children to search for themselves. 

A teacher must accept the change and 

should be ready to bring in that change 

in the classroom to make the teaching 

and learning process interesting and 

long lasting. It is inevitable for a teacher 

to upgrade her teaching skills to be at 

par with the students that she is dealing. 

Students adore those teachers who touch 

their lives in the process of teaching and 

learning. 

Student in their regular activities at Bala Vidya Mandir Sr. Sec. School, Adyar, Chennai 

R. Srinivasa Raghavan: Leaders of 

the organisation should provide the 

technology with good support system to 

maintain it and sustain the developments 

made. Adequate training should be given 

on the use of software and teachers to 

be guided on how to browse and identify 

good articles/information/ video from the 

internet rather than buying packaged 

educational products. When we train 

the teachers to browse and identify good 

educational resources for their transactions 



19

their understanding improves. Interacting 

digitally with students may bring better 

bonding. However, in Indian scenario, 

teachers should be given adequate time 

to do research and delivering these 

responsibilities instead of being given 28- 

35 periods per week to do the monotonous 

practices. Digital teaching community 

should be created. 

Q: How do smart schools empower 

learners for learning beyond a routine 

curriculum? 

Captain Alokesh Sen (Retd): Smart 

schools’ educational technology helps the 

students go beyond the routine curriculum 

and explore and research further on 

the topics discussed in classes. Smart 

schools integrate international learning 

to the curriculum which percolates to 

the learning objectives and learning 

outcomes. Smart schools ensure learner’s 

autonomy. Through blogging, video 

conferences and taking up project works 

in collaboration with the students of 

schools across the world’, they not only 

enrich their knowledge of academic topics 

but also learn to accept the diversity, 

respect it, develop ability to interact with 

people across the globe, learn to work 

in collaboration and understand other’s 

perspective on global issues. Students of 

smart schools prepare themselves to be 

useful global citizens. 

Manila Carvalho: Practical learning 

takes place outside confines of the 

classroom. The learners need to be 

prepared to take up the challenges of the 

society in which they are going to lead 

the rest of their life. Along with academic 

intelligence it is essential to teach the 

children the essential values that are 

required though examples or situations 

than in a disciplinarian style. Smart 

schools organise various team building 

activities which will enable the students 

to work in teams as well as develop 

mutual respect. Visit to the old age home, 

orphanages, remand homes will create a 

sense of understanding and responsibility 

among the students. Making the students 

accustomed to watch TED TALKS will 

bring in language fluency, aspect of self 

–confidence, aspiration for drive towards 

goals and dignity of labour. Encouraging 

sports and fine arts while providing 

required support from school will help 

them blossom in their talent. Introducing 

the learner to the global world through 

exchange programmes or virtual visits will 

enable them to respect each other’s culture 

and plan their career. A lot of learning 

takes place during the school excursions 

and camps. Introducing NSS, NCC, Scouts 

and Guides bring about bountiful learning 

through discipline among the learners. 

Project work and internships too bring 

about a high degree of learning. Children 

are made to think and ask questions. 

R. Srinivasa Raghavan: Certainly smart 

learning will develop good researchers and 

professionals in their own field as they 

connect well with the rest of the world. 

Smart students will be able to develop 

right attitude and be able to bring things 

better than their best. 


SMART ENVIRONMENT 

Pavitra Rao 

Chairperson, RPS Public School, Rewari, Haryana 

What can a school do to adopt the concept of smart schools? What kind of changes need to be 

proposed in the current system? These are a few questions which every school wanting to adopt 

smart practices face. 

Smart schools are becoming reality 

but reforms are needed in the ways 

of teaching and learning to benefit 

from it. There is need for reform so that 

schools can use the innovative uses of 

emerging pedagogical approaches and 

technologies, share and promote the 

best practices, leading to the evolution, 

design and implementation of smart 

learning environment. Here, Pavitra 

Rao, Chairperson, RPS Public School 

discusses ways to adopt the smart 

learning environment. 

Q: What do you think is a ‘smart 

learning environment’ in a school? 

Pavitra Rao is a distinguished 

academician and chairperson of RPS 

group of educational institutions, 

which has been established with a 

sole vision of education to all. 

How should school shape in to 

provide such an environment? 

Pavitra: A smart school offers an arena 

that allows exchange of thoughts with 

no existing boundaries. It also means 

enriching the existing pool of knowledge 

and leading the vision to reach the horizon 

supported by 21st century technology. It 

is possible to attain the above said when 

school prefers a flexible curriculum to 

a rigid syllabus, a problem is thought 

before a solution, the child approaches 

scientific enquiry under the guidance of 

good teachers. 

Q: Is it possible to contextualize a 

‘smart learning environment ‘within 

the parameters of a normal ‘lesson 

plan ‘delivered by a teacher? What 

kind of changes, if any, need to be 

proposed? 

Pavitra: It is possible to incorporate 

smart learning environment in a normal 

lesson plan with smart alterations. The 

learning objectives should be fixed but 

not the pedagogy. The progress of a pupil 

is not measured under rigid scheme of 

assessment and evaluation rather it should 

be pupil centred that not only taps hidden 

potential but utilizes innate abilities and 

aptitude. 

Q: What kind of modification should 

be brought in the delivery models 

in a classroom to achieve this goal? 

Pavitra: For establishing smart learning 

environment, the teacher should take 

the seat of guide instead of a leader. The 

problems or puzzles shall be introduced 

into the class not by teachers but pupil and 

multiple solutions are derived involving 

scientific inquiry, projects, case studies 

etc within the peer group. 

Q: How can ‘smart schools ‘help in 

empowering individualized learning 

of the students and to address 

differentiated learners in a typical 

classroom? 

Pavitra: Chalk boards being replaced 

by smart boards have given wings to 

the imagination of pupils. 2D boards, 3D 

classes, language labs, e-books, tablets 

empowered with different software, 

e-labs, windows 365 have provided 

multi-dimensional tools at the hands 



21

Pavitra Rao, Chairperson, 

RPS Public School 

of the teacher that empowers him/her 

to address different kinds of learners. 

Student can learn from visual, sensory 

and kinaesthetic – all at the same time. 

Q: Do you think teachers deserve more 

freedom along with accountability 

in a ‘smart school’ environment? 

How? 

Pavitra: Absence of freedom in hands 

of a teacher will hinder the process of 

learning as shackles of rigid lesson plans 

will entangle the teacher and will hinder 

the teaching strategies and ultimately the 

outcomes. “The Road Not Taken…” will 

be accessed by teachers if they enjoy the 

liberty to innovate and lead his/her class 

to the destined goal. 


opinion 

Smart School – A myth or reality? 

Aditi Basu Roy 

Ex-Principal, Sardar Patel School, Noida 

We have all been talking about the merits of smart schools and 

how schools should work towards making their schools smart. But 

is it really happening so? 

Smart schools enabled with advanced 

ICT, classrooms decor with curtains 

or blinds, smart interactive boards, 

lovely multimedia projectors and intelligent 

computers are must for modern urban 

education, especially in high-end private 

school sector. It is a gimmick used for school 

marketing. Many schools have display 

boards announcing their Smart classrooms 

at a conspicuous position outside the 

school which is a tall tale in most of the 

cases. Except for very few schools, mostly 

affiliated with foreign boards, smart class 

is a co-curricular activity carried out 

inefficiently once a week or may be once 

a month so that the school can charge an 

amount from students under that head. 

There is usually a LMS (Learning 

Management System) provider who 

gives everything: the projector, the smart 

board, computer, unauthentic content and 

Smart educator: need of the day! 

Vandana Saxena 

Principal, Tribune Model School, Chandigarh 

It is rightly said that a picture speaks more than a thousand words; with the use of a smart board the teaching 

learning experience can easily touch the amazing world of visuals and innovation can be experienced as real. 

But, technology is only a tool; we need smart educators to make our schools really ‘smart.’ 

A 

smart class has become a value 

addition in schools for marketing. 

Used colloquially, the term ‘Smart’ 

is to attract parents to ‘Smart Schools’ 

where all classrooms are equipped with a 

white board and a projector promising the 

magic of learning with technology and to 

justify the higher fee structure or a steep 

fee hike. 

The hidden agenda unknown to many is 

that this gadget just like any other can only 

be ‘Smart’ if used by a ‘Smart Educator’: 

the one who has sound knowledge of the 

subject, is trained in skills for effective use 

animation, frequent technical troubles 

and occasional headaches. If you Google 

“Smart Class”, you may find hundreds of 

companies offering it and self-proclaiming 

to be the best in the market. 

In Indian schools, teachers find it 

daunting to juggle among the textbook, 

students’ engagement, homework, 

assessment, management’s expectations 

and parents’ expectations. Smart class is 

an added bugbear. Most of the teachers are 

not ICT trained at all or are semi- trained 

to carry out smart classes productively; 

there is no freedom of delivery of lessons 

or selecting different pedagogical styles; 

the teacher is confined by the LMS. 

Middle-end schools, low-end schools and 

government aided schools cannot afford the 

smart class due to the high cost involved! 

There is no doubt that our respectable 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji’s dream 

of technology and has a passion to transact 

knowledge to the 21st century learner in 

an engaging and a meaningful way. It is 

rightly said that a picture speaks more than 

a thousand words; with the use of a smart 

board the teaching learning experience can 

easily touch the amazing world of visuals 

and innovation can be experienced as real. 

While on the one hand, we work to 

create a strong foundation through the 

traditional and conventional methods, 

but on the other hand, the modern and 

scientific methods have to be blended in, 

but with an awareness of the purpose of 

the use just as an aid or tool. For example, 

we understand that search engines are for 

seeding, spreading and sharing knowledge 

for those who seek. For that, the seeker has 

to know his/her mind. Though with the 

beginning of the new era, the millennial 

needs to be empowered with the use 

Aditi Basu Roy 

to make a smart India has increased the 

involvement of technologies in school 

education also. But, as of now, smart 

school is only a reality if teachers are 

smart enough to learn and blend different 

pedagogical styles both technological and 

conventional to maximize the learning 

outcome of students; for rest smart school 

is still a myth. 

Aditi Basu Roy, Ex-Principal, Sardar 

Patel School, Noida, has worked with S. 

Chand group in “e-class”, a World Bank 

project for Uttarakhand government schools 

as a pedagogy and subject matter expert in 

e-learning. 

Vandana Saxena 

of technology for a multidimensional 

teaching-learning experience, the 

foundation of learning comes from 

tradition. Remember, technology is only 

a tool, not the visionary. 

Vandana Saxena is Principal at Tribune 

Model School, Chandigarh. 



23

spotlight 

Raghuvansh Academy in Kanpur 

bridging rural-urban 

education gap 

Raghuvansh Academy in Kanpur is not just another school in the city. This school located in a farflung 

serene locality of the city opened under a mission with a vision—‘bridging rural and urban 

education gap.’ Devendra Pratap Singh, Director, Raghuvansh Academy/Indo-American Montessori 

Pre-School, narrates how they have come up carrying their mission forward to meet their vision, in 

an exclusive conversation with Jyaneswar Laishram. 

Dating back to a couple of decades 

or so, Devendra Pratap Singh, who 

was then a student of Class XII in 

a government school in Kanpur, realised 

the gap existing in quality of education 

between government and private schools 

in the city. He was wondering why good 

schools are present only in the heart of 

city, giving kids in outskirt areas little or 

no chance to access. Such a downside in 

education system in the city pushed him 

into the mission to open schools in cutoff 

localities. This is how Raghuvansh 

Academy, a co-educational public school, 

in Jarauli area of Kanpur, was established 

under the chairmanship of BP Singh to 

provide world-class education. 

“Many parents still believe that 

schools located only in the heart of 

the city provide quality education. We 

wish to bring this traditional notion to 

an end. And it’s quite a challenging 

task for us—a challenge to bring viable 

education to neglected locality,” says 

Devendra, adding that they constantly 

review curriculums and teaching 

methodologies in accordance to changes 

in time and society. As per his opinion, 

government schools must also have 

timely updates in curriculum and 

classroom activities. 

Into latest trends 

Raghuvansh Academy constantly 

takes up latest trends related to classroom 

technologies or teaching models. “Today 

I feel proud to tell that we, right from 

the day one of our establishment, had 

chalked out plan to adopt advanced 

teaching techniques and latest smart 

classroom solutions, which are common 

among reputed public schools across 

the country,” says Devendra, who has 

adopted smart classes of DS Digital, a 

division of S.Chand Group, which contain 

modern-day learning requirements and 

educational technology solutions, such 

Devendra Pratap Singh, Director, 

Raghuvansh Academy/Indo-American 

Montessori Pre-School 

as digital classroom, tablet solution, 

hands-on lab, teacher training and 

more, empowering both students and 

teachers alike. 


Latest development at Raghuvansh 

Academy is the adoption of Mylestone 

curriculum—yet another school solution 

from S Chand Group—fully mapped to 

create a learning environment in school, 

helping both teachers and students 

ready to face the challenges of the 

21st century through critical thinking, 

collaborative work, leadership and 

emotional intelligence. 

“Our collaboration with Mylestone 

is indeed a big opportunity. In fact, this 

education service provider’s curriculum 

is helping us not only in what to teach, 

but also how to teach as per the needs of 

students,” mentions Devendra. 

Suitable teachers 

Finding right teachers is a big 

task these days. But for Raghuvansh 

Academy, once the teachers are selected, 

they are trained in-house in order to 

fit into their environment. “We make 

sure that every teacher at Raghuvansh 

Academy must have a brighter teaching 

Awarded! 

Raghuvansh Academy has received Pradesh Gaurav Samman in recognition of its work 

of excellence in the field of education from the UP governor Ram Naik in 2016. 

career in future,” says Devendra Pratap. 

He adds, “Our teachers are regularly 

reviewed with respect to their skills and 

teaching methodologies. 

Periodically, we give 

them appraisals and 

compensations as per 

the industry standards.” 

Teaching staff of 

Raghuvansh Academy 

nurtures kids as young as 

ones in pre-school as the 

school has recently tied 

up with Indo-American 

Montessori Pre-School 

(IAMPS), which is a preschool 

with American 

education structure and 

Indian socio-cultural 

value. IAMPS follows the 

cardinal ‘Maria Montessori 

Philosophy’ which believes 

that every child is unique 

and talented—they need 

a proper well-equipped 

environment. 

“To improve the quality 

of our teachers, we organise 

at least one workshop every 

month by inviting eminent 

educationists, social 

workers, academic scholars 

and psychologists,” says 

Devendra, adding that 

the school’s principal also 

plays a key role in providing 

the teaching staff suitable 

tools and techniques 

for improved teaching 

experience. Concerning the 

problems arising out of the 

lack of suitable teachers, he 

suggests the government 

and corporate players to come up with 

standard teacher training academies. 

In India, as per his observation, many 

students don’t prefer teaching as first 

choice profession. “So, we must motivate 

them (students) to take up this noble 

profession; in this, only a good training 

academy can do justice,” says Devendra. 

Suitable teachers, according to 

Devendra, are the ones who never make 

forceful feeding—they teach amicably, 

inspiringly with logic and relate concept 

to real life examples. “Students are of 

different IQ levels and attributes; so we 

must customise our teaching process as 

much as we can as per the needs of every 

single kid,” he says, adding that certain 

rules by government educational bodies/ 

departments/ministry are not fit enough 

to take students equally to another level. 

Role of parents 

It’s not only teaching community, 

but also parents, who play vital role in 

the overall development of students. The 

same holds true when it comes to the 

roles parents play in proper functioning 

of school. “Parents and teachers have 

inseparable tie when it comes to 

development of school and wards. It is 

the community of parents that can give 

school the direct feedbacks on facilities, 

teachers and overall system,” says 

Devendra. He adds that parents should 

also get involved in school management, 

under the direction of trustees. 

As a leader managing one of the 

unconventional elite schools in Kanpur, 

Devendra delivers a message for everyone 

and all—“We need to make India a fully 

literate nation. We are the change agent 

for the future generation. Padhega India 

tabhi to badhega India!” 



25

ENHANCED LEARNING 

Towards 

a studentcentred 

learning 

experience… 

Dr. Mithlesh Agrawal 

C.P. Group of Schools, Farrukhabad 

Today’s age of 21st Century is also the age of information and technology (IT). All aspects of life are 

related to science and technology. Huge flow of information is emerging in all fields throughout the 

world. Now information and technology is popularly used in educational field for making teaching 

and learning process successful and interesting for both students and teachers. In 1998, UNESCO 

World Education report says that student and teachers must have sufficient access to digital 

technology and the internet in their classroom, schools, and educational institutions. 

No generation is more at ease 

with online, collaborative 

technologies than today’s young 

people — “digital natives”, who have 

grown up in an immersive computing 

environment. Where a notebook and 

pen may have formed the tool kit of prior 

generations, today’s students come to 

class armed with smart phones, laptops 

and iPads. The conduct of education in 

this 21st century has been witnessed 

with a paradigm shift from face-toface 

teaching environment to a more 

technology-based learning environment. 

The advancement of ICT (Information 

and Communication Technology) has 

influenced the development of education. 

For example, interactive multimedia 

learning applications were introduced 

to the classrooms; blended learning and 

distance learning which involve webbased 

learning were also implemented. 

With these new applications and learning 

platform, students are exposed to a more 

student-centered learning experience. 

Ins and outs of conventional 

learning process… 

In the process of conventional 

learning, emphasis was given on contents. 

It follows the particular course structure/ 

syllabus for many years. Accordingly 

the subject wise textbooks & 

reference books have been written. 

By using relevant material to the 

subject, teachers were supposed 

to teach through lectures and 

presentation. Teachers used their 

lesson plans, tutorials, different way 

of assessment to evaluate student 

performance etc. 

Traditional classes are typically 

teacher driven and teacher centric. 

Traditional teaching tools are 

used, such as lecture notes, charts, 

blackboard writing, showing 

physical models, laboratory 

experiments, etc. Learning 

environment can be dull and fun in class 

is kept to minimum to avoid disciplinary 

issues. 

In traditional classes, the teacher 

and students collaborate in physical 

classroom. It’s hard to address the needs 

of different levels of learners in a single 

class. If there aren’t additional resources 


available for groups such as slower or 

gifted students, they often have to make 

do with a one size fit all average class. 

Usually one teacher per class is available 

and guest teacher or specialized teacher 

on a particular topic is difficult due to 

time and travel constraint and usually 

single subject learning is possible due to 

space and scheduling constraint. 

Besides, in traditional classes, 

evaluation involves taking tests, 

and handling in manually- graded 

assignments. Result processing and 

analyzing the result is slow process. 

In traditional classes, classes are held, 

and if you forget to note something down 

or can’t attend, the chance is missed and 

can’t be repeated. 

From a teacher centered 

learning to competency 

based learning 

Use of ICT in education affects the 

way of students learning. Smart class 

was launched by Educomp in 2004. In 

the initial stages a soft launch across 

a few select geographic confirmed the 

phenomenal acceptance amongst private 

schools of all categories. At the very initial 

stage of launch, many Indian reputed 

schools like Takshila, DPS Pitampura in 

Delhi and Cambridge chain of schools 

were the first to adopt the programme. 

Gradually, it gained the momentum 

and it has now been adopted by 1000 

schools across India and helps in a rapid 

transformation of moving technology into 

classrooms in India. 

Concept model of smart 

classroom 

The smart classroom is a highly 

technological concept where presentation 

of content is optimal, interactive, and 

convenient with access of learning 

resources. It is also helpful for contextual 

awareness, classroom layout and 

management. It may be summarized 

as Showing, Manageable, Accessible, 

Real-time Interactive and Testing, which 

nicknames “S.M.A.R.T”. 

The five dimensions just embody 

the wisdom of a smart classroom 

feature, which can be referred to as 

“SMART” concept model. ‘Showing 

dimension’ represents teaching 

information presentation capabilities of 

the classroom, which requires not only 

showing the contents that can be clearly 

visible, but also showing content suitable 

for learners’ cognitive characteristics, to 

enhance the learners’ learning materials 

understanding and processing. 

‘Manageable’ dimension represents 

diverse layouts and the convenience of 

management of the Smart classroom. The 

equipment, systems, resources of Smart 

classroom should be easy managed, 

including layout of the classroom 

management, equipment management, 

physical environment management, 

electrical safety management, network 

management etc. The layout of the 

Smart classroom should be flexible, 

diverse, supporting a variety of teaching 

and learning activities, giving full 

consideration to the placement of various 

devices to improve the space utilization 

efficiency; the design of desks and chairs 

should consider the material, structure, 

colour and other factors. 

‘Accessible’ dimension represents 

convenience of resources acquisition 

and equipment access in the Smart 

classroom, which involves resource 

selection, content distribution and access 

speed. The Smart classroom should be 

able to provide teaching resources to 

support teaching and learning activities, 

which include computers, tablet PCs, 

smart phones, wireless projectors, 

interactive whiteboards. In content 

distribution, curriculum, lesson plans, 

teaching content, teaching tools should 

be able to facilitate distributed learning 

terminal. The speed of resource access 

and terminal access should not affect the 

teaching and learning activities. 

‘Real-time Interactive’ dimension 

represents the ability to support the 

teaching interaction and human-computer 

interaction of the Smart classroom, which 

involves convenient operation, smooth 

interaction and interactive tracking. 

In convenient operation, the Smart 

Dr. Mithlesh Agrawal, a n 

eminent industrialist, educationist, 

philanthropist and political stalwart, 

guided the C.P. Group of Schools 

as trusted symbols of quality and 

excellence in the region’s educational 

landscape. Her forays in the field of 

education exhibited the meticulous 

planning, concern for detail and 

flawless execution that are her 

hallmark throughout the life. Each 

of the institutions set up by her 

become a success by creating a 

family-like environment through 

her personal touch, dedication and 

a shared vision of excellence. Dr. 

Mithlesh Agrawal has been actively 

associated with several social, 

cultural and professional bodies, 

and held responsible positions 

reflecting her versatility, leadership 

and standing in industry, education 

and social circles. C.P. Group of School 

comprise of five schools: C.P. Vidya 

Niketan, Kaimganj; C.P. Vidya Niketan 

Inter College, Kaimganj; Sri Ram 

Agrawal Higher Secondary School 

(Hindi Medium), Parauli; Sri Ram 

Agrawal Higher Secondary School 

(English Medium), Parauli and C.P. 

International School, Farrukhabad. 



27

classroom should be able to support the 

natural interaction between man and 

machine, interactive equipment and 

interface with a simple, full-featured, 

clear navigation, consistent with the 

operating habits and characteristics, 

touch, visual and voice interaction can 

improve the interaction between man 

and machine, the interaction tends to be 

more natural. 

While, ‘Testing’ dimension represents 

perception of the physical environment 

and learning behaviour in Smart 

classroom. The physical environment 

factors, including air, temperature, light, 

sound, colour, odours etc, affect the 

physical and mental activities of teachers 

and students. In nature every teacher 

and every class is different, and that 

space can be adapted to their needs, the 

concept of smart classrooms includes the 

principle of adaptability to the type and 

needs of teacher and of each student. 

Characteristics of smart 

classrooms: 

Adaptive learning: Any classroom 

will always have students of different 

types of learning abilities in it which 

often makes it difficult for teachers to 

make sure that all of them understand 

the concepts. The modern approach of 

adaptive learning gives students the 

freedom to learn at their own pace and in 

the way they are most comfortable with. 

Collaborative learning: Learning 

through collaboration is one of the most 

effective forms of learning. Teaching and 

learning in isolation are very restrictive 

and hinder progress. Learning in groups 

enhances the scope of learning and 

develops critical thinking. Collaborative 

learning activities include collaborative 

writing, group projects, joint problem 

solving, debates and more. Collaborative 

learning redefines traditional studentteacher 

relationship in the classroom. 

Computing devices: Computers are 

readily available in modern classrooms, 

since they are essential tools for 21st 

century students and replace the utilities 

of pen and paper. They give teachers the 

opportunity to enhance their lessons and 

assist them. 

Mutual respect: Teachers and 

students should always have respect for 

each other. As now the role of teachers 

is no longer to be the sage on the stage, 

students should not forget their value as 

they will always receive guidance from 

them. Also, teachers should encourage 

students to speak with confidence and 

value their opinions. 

Performance-based assessments: 

Regular performance-based assessments 

are carried out by teachers through various 

methods which are not restricted to tests. 

These can also assess performance by 

conducting quizzes and polls. 

Student-centric: I n S m a r t 

classrooms, teachers play the role of 

facilitators. They help students think 

critically. Students discover and master 

new concepts. Student-centric classroom 


environments put students’ interests first 

and are focused on each student’s needs, 

abilities and learning styles. 

Students take responsibility 

of their learning: As students are 

encouraged to actively participate in their 

own learning, they become responsible 

for their learning. 

Students understand and follow 

the rules and procedures: The learning 

environment is carefully planned and 

well-organized. Class rules, procedures, 

and notices of upcoming activities are 

posted in convenient places to help 

students stay on track. Students are 

constantly encouraged to remind them 

of their goals and responsibilities. They 

follow class routines and understand 

what they are expected to achieve each 

day and how they are to go about it. 

Objective of Smart Class 

Room 

The following are some objectives for 

a Smart Class Room application: 

• To help teachers to meet new 

challenges and developing students’ 

abilities and performance. 

• To enable teachers to access 

multimedia content and information 

that can be used for teaching students 

more effectively, pedagogically 

sound and visually rich curriculum 

resources. 

• To enable teachers to express their 

views and ensures that every child 

is understanding the undertaken 

concept which ultimately affects his 

achievement. 

• To make possible for the concepts to 

be understood clearly (make abstract 

concepts real). 

• To have interactive and live teaching 

to elaborate and compare different 

objects and perceptions towards the 

particular concepts. 

• To design a module of smart class 

which allows a student to visualize 

the concept much better than static 

images, visuals and animations that 

students will never forget. 

• To move a step towards development 

where students’ achievement is 

highlighted. 

• To makes learning an enjoyable 

experience for students. Activities and 

games to make learning process easy. 

• To make effective blending of 

technology with the classroom, and 

to inform the teachers of classroom 

events. 

• To simultaneously instruct remote 

and local students. 

• To improve creative thinking in 

learning process to visualize the 

concepts and practices with model 

and demonstrations. 

• To optimize the use of e-resources 

wise e-books, e-journals, protocols, 

lecture notes, documentaries and so 

on. 

• Customized content as per the 

school’s scheme of work and to provide 

facility to update the content. 

Enhancing teachers’skills… 

Many teachers are reluctant to use 

ICTs, especially computers and the 

internet. Some of the reasons for this 

reluctance include poor software design, 

skepticism about the effectiveness 

of computers in improving learning 

outcomes, lack of administrative support, 

increased time and effort needed to 

learn the technology and how to use 

it for teaching, and the fear of losing 

their authority in the classroom as it 

becomes more learner-centered and 

quality of internet services in the region. 

In terms of using internet and other ICT 

as a resource for lesson preparation, 

the number of teachers using it is very 

less in comparison to non-users. The 

teachers particularly felt that they had 

both access and training inadequacy and 

hence were unable to utilize internet and 

other facilities. The quality of internet 

service in the region is also a factor. More 

teachers were comfortable however, with 

using computers as an individual than 

as a teacher. A positive find is that all 

those teachers who are not well versed 

with the computer and other technology, 

expressed keen interest in undergoing 

training for the same. They felt that if 

trained, they would be in a position to 

make use of resources available in the 

school. Support of school administrators 

and, in some cases, the community, is 

critical if ICTs are to be used effectively. 

In addition, teachers must have adequate 

access to functioning computers (or other 

technologies) and sufficient technical 

support. Shifting pedagogies, redesigning 

curriculum and assessment tools, and 

providing more autonomy to local schools 

all contribute to the optimal use of ICTs 

in education. Very few strong examples 

of integration of ICT into classroom 

teaching learning is visible, though some 

schools do use the audio visual aids and 

integrate teaching of some lessons. 

On a concluding note… 

The concept of e-learning in India 

is yet in its early stages and may not 

exactly be spreading like wild fire in 

many parts of rural India. However, as 

a mode of teaching and learning, it has 

seen an increasing use in educational 

institutions in cities. Here computers and 

audio visuals are extensively being used 

to get the children better versed with the 

lessons taught in the classroom or for 

that matter even while learning at home. 

More and more schools are realizing the 

importance of e-learning for school kids. 

They know how this will greatly assist 

teachers in their tireless endeavors of 

preparing gifted beings and thus doing 

justice to the great intelligence of the little 

ones but, there is a strong need to train 

the teachers for adopting smart classroom 

in their teaching – learning process. 



29

the future 

LIBERATE LEARNING 


Editor-in-Chief, The Progressive School, New Delhi 

Schools, boards, institutions of higher learning and educational administrators need to be more 

focused, pro-active, participative, engaging and authentic in their approaches towards facilitating 

learning. Learning needs to be liberated! 

Preparing for uncertainty” 

appears to be the hallmark of all 

developing systems worldwide. 

The impact of global technologies 

G.Balasubramanian, Editor-in-chief 

of The Progressive School Magazine 

is a leading educator in the field of 

school education, curriculum designer, 

author, HR trainer and educational 

administrator. Widely traveled, he has 

authored several books for schools, 

educational administrators and is a 

premier teacher-trainer both across the 

country and abroad. He has authored 

– Mindscaping Education, Case Studies 

in Classrooms, Quality Spectrum – A 

school’s bandwidth and Safety in Schools 

– Issues & concerns. 

and the speed of their re-engineering 

into new Avatars in short spans of 

time capsules, has forced synergetic 

thinking and processes of enterprise and 

exploration that are previously unknown 

and unacceptable, relevant, possible and 

viable today as we engage into newer 

models of learning and thinking. Our 

social perspectives, life-longings and 

consequent practices both personal and 

social, are undergoing faster change 

than ever the world has witnessed or 

calibrated. 

The speed of change and 

transformation is holding the future to 

an acid test. How would the future of the 

world would be? Says Patrick Dixon, in his 

book “The Future of (almost) Everything” 

– “We face the greatest threat to survival 

in human history, while new technologies 

will give us the greatest opportunities 

ever known to create a better world. Some 

decisions made today will affect life on 

earth for a thousand years.” 

Education is the most powerful 

instrument for preparing the current 


generation to meet the challenges of 

the future. Stepping into the knowledge 

society has been the result of our 

cumulative experience of over a few 

thousand years. This has resulted in 

understanding knowledge from different 

perspectives both for the personal and 

the social constructs. The way knowledge 

is accessed, stored, processed and 

packaged will define the ‘knowledge 

economy’. Contribution to the knowledge 

economy will not be from the select few 

who are sitting on the ivory towers of 

philosophical temples of knowledge, 

but by the common who practice and 

articulate knowledge with skills. Multidimensional 

knowledge practices would 

be the requisite of any vibrant society 

to empower the entire spectrum of 

people with differing aspirations. No 

wonder, Peter Drucker, the renowned 

Management Guru observed, “The 

knowledge society will inevitably become 

far more competitive than any society 

we have yet known for the simple reason 

that with knowledge being universally 

accessible there are no excuses for 

non-performance. There will be no poor 

countries. There will only be ignorant 

countries. “ 

The relevance and importance of 

building learning organizations and 

institution of knowledge dynamics 

can never be underplayed. It is in this 

connection, the urgency of re-engineering 

the existing curricula and pedagogical 

patterns of our schools and institutions 

of higher learning assumes the top 

priority. Countries, who, for their political 

reasons or other priorities marginalize 

this issue and do not participate in this 

cutting-edge competition will lose the 

race in their economic superiority. While 

the arguments relating to celebrating 

our well-earned legacy, the universally 

articulated heritage, the strong social 

bonding that supports the rhythm of coexistence 

and a single humanity need 

not be put on shelves as irrelevant, it 

is equally important to let the learners 

reach out to global knowledge through 

all available corridors for their pursuit, so 

that they become active participants 

and engage in global productive 

platforms to enhance their economic 

and social power. 

The school curricula and what 

more, the textual and support 

materials of the country should enable 

freedom of thinking, critical analysis, 

enterprise, forward mobility and 

productive engagement with futuristic 

perspectives. Limiting the knowledge 

of the learners to the walls of a textbook, 

imprisoning thoughts that would 

facilitate only a scoring in well-defined 

examination structures, inhibiting 

their extended learning and thus their 

creativity will only produce a generation 

of “customers” rather than “producers of 

knowledge.” This perspective is further 

substantiated by the recent revelations 

of neuro-cognitive researchers. 

Dr V.S. Ramachandra, the renowned 

neuro-cognitive scientist asserts, “We can 

now say with confidence that the brain 

is an extraordinarily plastic biological 

system that is in a state of dynamic 

equilibrium with the external world.” 

Ben Jessen, the author of “Brain-based 

learning” clearly points with evidences 

that the brain’s learning is not linear. 

It is a multi-dimensional process and 

thus learning is unique. It varies from 

individual to individual. Hence learning 

inputs need to be learner-friendly and 

should cater to the needs of differentiated 

learners. Any linear input to the brain 

would be non-stimulating to the learners. 

Hence learning should be facilitated 

through a variety of learning inputs. No 

wonder, the latest conceptualization of 

the school curricula in Finland, supports 

this idea of assimilation of knowledge 

from various sources, thereby negating 

the primary role of any singular text book 

or pedagogy. Learners are expected to 

Michio Kaku and his book “The Future of Mind” 

learn through critical evaluation of any 

idea through a variety of considerations, 

approaches and strategies. It would lead 

to greater possibility of construction of 

new knowledge. 

The educational philosophies 

have taken cognizance of these 

emerging dimensions and hence have 

metamorphosed from behaviorism 

to cognitivism, to constructivism, to 

connectivism. Each of these approaches 

have a contribution to make and a role 

to play: hence there is a need for coexistence 

of all these approaches 

The fact that the human brain has 

been continuously evolving, has been 

acknowledged world wide and the 

developmental psychologists have 

enough evidences to support. Hence 

what are the likely future directions of 

change? 

Michio Kaku, the renowned 

Futurologist writes in his book “The 

Future of Mind” : One day scientists might 

construct an “internet of the mind’ or a 

brain-net, where thoughts and emotions 

are sent electronically around the world. 

Even dreams will be videotaped and 

then “brain-mailed” across the internet.” 

Leaving aside, what the future holds, it 

appears important for us to prepare our 

younger generation for the possibilities 

of a future world, which is more open, 

more interactive and more dynamic. 

Education systems have possibly no 

option but to sensitize themselves lest 

the people of the country remain only 

road-side gazers of the celebration of 

knowledge. 

Schools, boards, institutions of higher 

learning and educational administrators 

need to be more focused, pro-active, 

participative, engaging and authentic 

in their approaches towards facilitating 

learning. Learning needs to be liberated! 



31

opinion 


the 21 st Century 

Rohit Mann, Director 

Lancers International School 

Smart classroom is indeed a blessing, all you need to do is to give it a try and reap the benefits in 

the form of students’ achievement. 

Smart Classrooms in collaboration 

with innovative methods of 

teaching enhances and maximizes 

students’ learning and understanding. 

They help students gain a wider indepth 

knowledge of subject rather than 

just restricting their learning and 

knowledge acquisition to curriculum. 

The use of digital aids facilitates creative 

and innovative learning. It also makes 

lessons interesting and more interactive. 

Here, Rohit Mann, Director, Lancers 


learners 

International School shares his opinion 

about Smart classrooms. 

Q: What merits do a ‘smart classroom’ 

command in delivering an effecting 

learning model? 

Rohit Mann: Smart Classrooms are 

technology enhanced classrooms 

that foster opportunities for teaching 

and learning by integrating learning 

technology, such as computers, specialized 

software, audience response technology, 

assistive listening devices, networking, 

and audio/visual capabilities. One of the 

major benefits of a Smart Classrooms 

is that the lessons are fun, interesting 

and are delivered in an interactive 

way. In Smart Classrooms, teachers 

integrate technology through computers, 

specialized software – online and offline, 

audience response technology, assistive 

listening devices, online libraries like 

Jstor and audio/visual capabilities into 

their teaching methodologies. It thus 

facilitates learning beyond textbooks 

and encourages interactive learning. One 

such strategy is flipped classroom which 

benefits both students and teachers many 

ways. This approach allows students to 

be ready for lessons as compared to a 

traditional classroom where a teacher 

uses conventional methods of teaching. 

Smart Classrooms in collaboration 

with innovative methods of teaching 

enhances and maximizes students’ 

learning and understanding. Due to 

interactive nature of the digital aids, the 

understanding of concepts is concrete 

and has a lasting effect. The advantages 

of Smart Classrooms are endless. So, I 

believe that Smart Classrooms are the 

best way forward to ensure maximum 

learning for the 21st Century learners. 

Although adopting such a new concept 

might be a tough decision for many, but 

the technology can create wonders in 

classrooms. 

Q: What challenges do schools face 

in delivering pedagogy in a ‘smart 

environment’ and how can they 

adopt the new model? 

Rohit Mann: Switching to non-traditional, 

digital mode of learning entails plethora of 

challenges. A Smart Classroom can be a 

different, however challenging, learning 

experience especially for students who 

are accustomed to traditional modes of 

learning. However, the right approach of 

introduction to these digital methodologies 

and strategies can help a great deal in 

overcoming these challenges. Overcoming 

technical glitches is another challenge. 

E-learning requires high bandwidth 

internet connection. Time management is 

also a difficult task for e-Learners, as online 

courses require a lot of time and intensive 

work. Also, ‘Smart teachers’ should realize 

that technology cannot replace the need 

for a good teacher. Relevant training 

should be imparted to teachers for them 

to be able to integrate technology in the 

lectures. It must be remembered that 

even in Smart Classrooms, students, not 

technology, should remain at the centre 

of things. 

Q: How can ‘smart schools’ help in 

empowering individualized learning 

of the students and to address 



33

differentiated learners in a typical 

classroom? 

Rohit Mann: Smart Schools employ 

various digital programs or software to 

empower teachers with tools that help 

them to design differentiated learning 

experience for students. Developing 

a personalized learning plan for each 

student helps both teachers and 

students to set their weekly targets 

and make decisions for the short-term 

as well as long-term. Smart Classroom 

helps students become independent 

learners as well as responsible for their 

own learning. 

Q: What has been the response at 

your school? 

Rohit Mann: Smart Classes in our school 

have received an overwhelming response. 

It has shown considerable difference in 

learning outcomes of our students. Our 

Smart Classes provide opportunities for 

teaching and learning by integrating 

learning technology, such as computers, 

specialized software, audience response 

technology, assistive listening devices, 

networking, and audio/visual capabilities. 

In addition, school has subscribed to 

various online digital libraries which 

help students in their research work and 

additional learning at home. Such facilities 

have taken learning beyond classrooms. 

As I mentioned before as well, Smart 

Classrooms are the best way forward to 

ensure maximum learning for the 21st 

Century learners. It’s indeed a blessing, 

all you need to do is to give it a try and 

reap the benefits in the form of students’ 

achievement. 


indicators 

the indicators of a 

smart school 

Sanchita Verma 

Principal at Indian School Sohar, Sultanate of Oman 

Education has moved from Palm leaves to Palm tops. Care, 

caution and discretion are important in applying technology to 

understand that creativity and imagination are necessary for 

learning and integral for eventual success. 

Generally perceived, a smart school 

is a technology-based learning 

institution. In smart schools, 

teachers take help of a wide array of 

multimedia tools including movies, 

photos, audio, slides etc., to make the 

teaching-learning process more effective 

and efficient. To maintain the system and 

processes, a smart school also has ERP 

and option of storing data on cloud. 

In my opinion, indicators should 

not only be technological but also the 

one which foster a classroom with 

different learning strategies. Thus, smart 

schools differ from other schools in 

technology used, pedagogy, teaching – 

learning material, delivery model, class 

environment, ERP, LMS, cloud based data 

storage and tech savvy teachers. 

Seeing aids learning… 

Visualization has always been a better 

way to understand and learn things. For 

making abstract concepts real, visuals 

play a powerful role, which may not 

be possible in chalk and talk method 

of delivery. Technologically driven, 

technologically supported, ubiquitous 

learning contributes to smart learning in 

terms of visuals and interactivity it offers. 

Sanchita Verma, Principal at Indian 

School Sohar, Sultanate of Oman 

Multimedia, animations, 3D modeling, 

augmented reality, virtual reality; touch 

screen boards are some of the tools used 

by the teachers, which stimulate learning 

in today’s information age kids. 

Some complex phenomena can be 

made simple, especially concepts which 

students must know in reality. Where there 

is no scope for imagination, presentation 


in the form of films or videos boost 

learning. Learning becomes interactive 

and enjoyable. Better understanding 

results in improved performance. Visuals 

aid in higher retention. 

Other benefits… 

• Classes can be recorded also which 

may be helpful sometimes. 

• Learning becomes effective, engaging, 

efficient and personalized. 

• Collaboration is possible with learners 

in other parts of the world. 

• Lessons can be carried home and 

visuals can be played and replayed, 

thus making learning self directed. 

• The interactive nature of smart board 

allows learners to participate in the 

process. 

• Students can also access rich online 

resources. 

• Digital learning empowers sharing 

and collaboration. 

• Assessments can be checked 

immediately and feedback can be 

provided promptly. 

• Students have access to study 

material, so they can plan their 

studies and revisions at their pace 

and convenience. 

• Data storage is not cumbersome. 

Cloud technology offers easy access 

to data. 

Challenges with technology 

and how to handle them… 

Technology poses some challenges. 

The learners of today are more familiar 

with technology than their teachers 

are. To keep pace with the changing 

technology, teachers must raise their 

awareness about today’s learners, who 

are digital natives. The mental readiness 

of the teachers is very important as most of 

the time it is thought that the technology 

is for the young. Considerable attention 

should be given to change the mindset 

of the teachers. 

The general problems are handling 

the technology and integrating the 

technology in their lessons. Judicious 

use is very crucial. Technology should not 

remain under utilized due to technophobia 

as well as overuse should be avoided. 

For instance, online virtual labs are 

available but in all such schools where 

demonstrations are possible and students 

can learn “hands on,” multimedia should 

never be used. Teachers should decide 

when to use audio, video, both or none. 

Teachers should be smart to develop 

their knowledge and skills. Attitude is 

very important in this transformation. 

Teachers training programme in pedagogy 

and technology can help the teachers in 

confidence building. 

Education has moved from Palm 

leaves to Palm tops. Care, caution and 

discretion are important in applying 

technology to understand that creativity 

and imagination are necessary for 

learning and integral for eventual 

success. Any model will be good for a 

particular type of learners. In our system, 

learners are diverse and heterogeneous. 

Therefore, role of the teacher is very 

important in understanding the 

needs of the learners and modifying 

teaching strategies as per the individual 

differences is important. 



37

opinion 

What makes a 

school 

really 

smart? 

Dr. Priyadarshi Nayak 

Principal, Prelude Public School, Agra 

Today’s generation is already tech savvy right from childhood, through exposure to smart phones 

and tablets in the household. Continuing this tech savvy atmosphere in the classroom will be 

advantageous as the child is already accustomed to it at home. Here the learner can access 

such a vast storehouse of information that his knowledge will definitely exceed that of the 

regular school curriculum. 

A 

‘Smart school’ would be different 

from regular schools, as we know 

them, in various ways. I still 

remember receiving my first ‘Smart 

Dr. Priyadarshi Nayak, Principal, 

Prelude Public School, Agra, is an 

accomplished Educationist. He is the 

Master Trainer and Resource person 

of CBSE. He has worked as Principal 

in Delhi Public School, Sagar and as 

Principal of St. Xavier’s Senior Secondary 

School, Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh. He is 

the founder Chairman of a teachers 

and principals forum named “Research 

for Adult & Child Education (RACE), in 

Odisha ” and the founder of Principal 

forum All Intellectuals Eduleaders 

Forum. 

phone’ and comparing it with my regular 

traditional mobile, which I used to make 

and receive phone calls, and sometimes 

SMS. Using the connotation ‘traditional 

type of school’ would bring to the mind a 

school with minimum use of technology. 

As most of us have experienced, once 

we acquire a smart phone we first need 

to learn how to use it. We spend time 

pouring over it, trying the different apps, 

widgets, locating settings, the camera, 

the volume, the phone book and what 

not. After a couple of days we tend to 

become more confident in using it, but 

often we are amazed to find new uses 

and functions which we did not know 

about. And so the learning goes on, till 

one day we wonder how we were able to 

work without this gadget in our lives. In 

much the same way, simply procuring 

the set up for a smart school, will not 

be enough unless a concerted effort is 

made to understand the processes and 

techniques and how to tailor its features 

to suit the classroom needs. 

What is a smart school? 

A Smart School would be 

making maximum use of smart and 

active technology in the process of 

implementation of the entire curriculum, 

pedagogy, assessment, teaching-learning 

material and school management in 

order to prepare students for the age of 

information in which we are living. Smart 

school classes can be technology-driven 

and learner centric with the teacher as a 

facilitator. Teachers have better teaching 

tools to effectively engage learners. 

Virtual classrooms allow students more 

freedom to crease, experiment, explore 

and steer the class. 

When can a school 

become a Smart School? 

‣ Schools no longer need to maintain 

ledgers and cumbersome paperwork 


as smart school software now helps 

maintain all records for the school in 

one place. 

‣ Pens and notebooks will be replaced 

by tablets and computers. 

‣ Being a smart school allows the 

educators to reach out to students all 

over the world and develop thriving 

online learning communities. 

‣ Students in a smart school are 

exposed to students from other parts 

of the world via online meetings and 

collaborations. 

‣ Smart school softwares include 

functionalities of an ERP and LMS 

making it really simple for any school 

to run and maintain processes. 

‣ Schools can store all their data on 

the cloud and stop worrying about 

lost data and the time consumed to 

retrieve it. 

How it works? 

As far as achieving smart learning 

practices goes, it must be understood 

that the teacher will still play a key role 

in the classroom, even though he is using 

digital instruction. Digital activities and 

conventional human-facilitated activities 

will represent parallel and interdependent 

instructional strategies. The computer 

will not replace the role of the human 

teacher, but the students will not be 

dependent on the teacher or textbook 

alone to enhance their knowledge. They 

will learn to explore the internet and find 

new ways of learning. Also, the use of 

readymade teaching learning software 

complete with learning outcome testing 

techniques will definitely contribute to 

smart learning practices. After taking 

the first step, the sky would be the limit! 

Are smart schools better? 

The question as to whether a smart 

school model would have a better impact 

on learners as compared to routine 

models needs to be addressed cautiously. 

The role of the teacher in a student’s 

life needs to be first understood before 

a blanket statement in favour of smart 

school model can be made. 

A teacher has high expectations 

from students not only as regards their 

standard of learning but also their 

behaviour and value inculcation, and 

motivates their students to meet those 

expectations. Teachers understand 

individual differences among their 

students and teach accordingly. They also 

understand that students learn best if 

their particular culture, background and 

abilities are acknowledged by the teacher 

in the way they teach. Using a range of 

pedagogies, teachers use techniques that 

best serve the learning needs of their 

students. This may include the use of 

technology, by referring to the internet 

and encouraging their students to do so. 

And above all, teachers inspire in their 

students a love of learning. 

Besides teachers, students often learn 

on their own as well as with and from 

others. They exchange knowledge and 

take help from a peer who has a better 

understanding of the subject matter 

than them. 

So, merits of a smart school 

would be: 

‣ Access to online resources in the 

classroom. 

‣ Notes will be in digital medium such as 

presentations, videos etc. and student 

would not write down anything, 

instead receive it on mail or in a pen 

drive. 

‣ The absentees would find it 

advantageous to make up lost classes. 

‣ Difficult topics can be better understood 

with the help of multimedia rather than 

chalk and talk. 

‣ Learning would become more 



39

enjoyable, especially for the visual 

learner. 

‣ Better understanding would lead to 

better performance by the student. 

‣ The possibility of video conferencing 

with expert teachers in the classroom 

will be a welcome move. 

How ‘smart’ teachers should 

be for a ‘change-over’ 

process to this new model? 

A smart classroom would involve 

using a smart board or white board 

instead of the traditional blackboard 

with its chalk and talk. Whiteboards 

allow many different forms of media such 

as photos, illustrations, maps, graphs, 

games, and video, to be displayed. 

‣ Teachers would have to familiarize 

themselves with all these resources 

such as knowledge databases, online 

video and news items to reinforce 

their lessons and be constantly online 

to ensure that they are up to date. 

‣ Teachers would have to learn 

about Technology Integration, for 

example, how to attach tools such 

as microscopes, document cameras, 

cameras or video cameras to a 

whiteboard to aid in instruction and 

how to integrate the interactive 

learning tools with a wide range of 

software applications 

‣ They would have to keep track of 

Online learning software, e learning 

tutorials, online multimedia lessons, 

educational websites, online training, 

online two way conversation, online 

video chatting, high speed internet 

speed etc. 

It is therefore necessary to train the 

resource persons; such as school teachers, 

academic and administrative staff. 

How smart schools empower 

learners for learning beyond 

a routine curriculum? 

A Smart School environment helps to 

democratise education. The Smart School 

programme provides equal access to 

learning opportunities. It may increase 

creativity, critical thinking, problemsolving, 

decision-making and learning. 

It may improve communication and 

collaboration. It teaches new tools for 

working such as ICT and information 

literacy. It will teach skills for life 

and career, and personal and social 


Having said that, on second thought 

it seems that this has always been 

the goal of education and it is not 

necessarily linked to smart teaching 

learning methods. The main difference 

through smart schools could be to deliver 

these goals to a wider range of learners 

rather than to a small social elite class. 

If the nation requires a well-educated 

workforce, education has to be delivered 

to more people and this can happen 

through education technology. Once 

students realize that they can play a major 

role in their own learning without the 

constant guidance of teachers or tutors, 

they will explore new avenues; they may 

become entrepreneurs, inventors, think 

out of the box, develop critical thinking 

skills, learn to compare and contrast, 

analyse, develop curiosity to learn more 

and more and definitely be tech savvy. 


vision 


a transformational education 


Principal at Suncity School, Gurgaon, Haryana 

Learning is one of the most important activities in which humans engage. It is the very core of 

educational process, though Einstein has said, “I never let my education interfere with my learning.” 

It is important to be able to determine through theory and evidence about the nature, causes and 

consequences for schools and students success through inspirational leadership. 

An inspiring leader brings 

reforms and innovation in 

learning, leading to creativity 

and transformational education that is 

the hallmark of a leader who defines 

instructional leadership. 

Instructional leadership 

Learning centered leaders follow 

instructional leadership and they are all 

variants of practice, commitment and 

creativity. 

Instructional leadership does not 

focus on actual leadership. It idolizes 

values, beliefs, skills, knowledges but the 

core practice has its genesis in different 

models of transformational leadership. 

The true essence of this form 

contributes to organizational improvement 

and student learning besides students 

well being–mental, physical, emotional, 

social and spiritual. 

Visionary 

The mainstay of this core leadership 

practice is to define a ‘goal’ based on the 

vision of the leader. So a true instructional 

leader is a visionary. The leader inspires 

and leads new and challenging 

innovations. 

Curiosity - Ask 

Samuel Johnson rightly said, “One of 

the permanent and certain characteristic 

of a vigorous intellect is curiosity.” It is 


the bounden duty of an effective leader 

to provide a conducive and supportive 

surrounding to ignite and enhance a 

child’s curious mind. 

As a successful leader, he/she 

demonstrates a curiosity that would not 

be satisfied without personal examination 

of failure to meet expectations thus an 

instructional leader addresses the moot 

ethos of learning. Curiosity encourages 

students to learn to ASK. 


ASK as an acronym defines: 

A pplication- Learning is embodied 

and concerned with the human 

experiences 

S kill - Learning is interactive and 

social 

K nowledge - Learning is an integrated 

cognitive process 


41

Connectivity- 

Interdisciplinary 

Most of what people learn occurs 

outside of school that is the reason 

we need to focus on Transformational 

Education which encompasses learning 

applied to Real Life. 

Leaders have a substantial and 

positive impact on their schools as reforms 

brought in by them lead to improvements 

in all aspects of performances of the 

school-cognitive and effective, strategies 

and skills. It leads to the connectivity 

of life thus building of a shared vision 

and provides opportunities for each 

follower to self-actualize and attain 

higher standards of development in 

academics, activities and athletics which 

are integrated under the aegis of Multiple 

Intelligences leading to transformational 

learning. 

Humility 

The second aspect of this leader’s 

identity is the endorsement of the 

fifth stage and highest benchmark of 

leadership that is Humility. 

Leadership is first an exploration 

of oneself – it requires introspection, 

it demands reflection, it demands the 

humility to be brutally honest. 

This exploration leads to discoverythe 

responses of introspection helps to 

identify the basis of our convictions, the 

depth of our credibility and the strength 

of character and willingness to lead, 

but simultaneously the enthusiasm and 

willingness to follow. 


Thus, an amalgamation of vision, 

curiosity, connectivity and humility leads 

to Transformational education. Thus 

Instructional leadership is an emerging 

strategy for improved learner achievement 

through its focus on Transformational 

education. 

Rupa Chakravarty is Principal at 

Suncity School, Sector 54, Gurugram, 

Haryana. 

1. Loss of sleep hurts attention. It also deprives the executive function, 

working memory. It impacts the mood, logical thinking, reasoning 

and quantitative skills. 

2. Exercises enhance the brain power. Physically fit children have 

faster recognition of the visual stimuli than sedentary ones. 

3. Brain is in constant state of tension between cells and chemicals. 

There is a real war between the hormones that want you to sleep and 

those that want you to keep awake. 

4. Emotional stress has a huge impact on the children’s ability to learn and perform. Chronic 

stress deregulates the system. 

5. No two people’s brains store the information in the same way. 


mission 

“There is a need for 

career-oriented 

learning in schools” 

Opines Mohinder Sheokand, in conversation with Varsha Verma as he feels that skilling should 

start at the school level so that children can map their career plans early in life. 

“Education is the passport to 

the future, for tomorrow belongs 

to those who prepare for it 

today.” -Malcolm X 

The quality of education is improving 

and various private schools have 

come up to fill in the void. With 

majority of population living in rural 

areas, it has become pertinent to educate 

them and bring them at par with their 

counterparts living in urban areas. One 

such school in Assnadh, Haryana is 

Vivekanand Vidya Niketan. Varsha Verma 

met the owner Mohinder Sheokand to 

know about the nuances of running a 

school. 

Mohinder Sheokand, the man behind 

Vivekanand Vidya Niketan, did his M.Sc. 

in 1990 and the very next year, he started 

a school from a rented house in Jind. 

Mohinder Sheokand 

“The take off was simple. The school is 

still running by the name of Supreme 

Senior Secondary School,” he shares. The 

Vivekanand Vidya Niketan school was 

established in 2005. 

Though the school has a well-defined 

administrative staff; still Mohinder is 

actively involved in the functioning of 

the school. “The overall supervision is 

done by principal with my guidance. I 

do not interfere in their working and they 

carry out day-to-day functioning of the 

school meticulously,” he says. “I am more 

involved at the pre- and primary level,” 

he adds. 

Challenges in rural 


Lack of good quality teachers remain 

one of the biggest challenges for schools 

operating in rural environment. As 

Mohinder puts it, “Karnal is 50 km away 

from here. So, we try to find good teachers 

from Karnal and settle them here in 

Assandh.” 

Another challenge which Mohinder 

points out is that since parents of most 

of the children studying in their school 



43

are uneducated, they cannot help their 

children with studies. 

Yet another challenge which Mohinder 

faces is that since children in rural 

environment do not have adequate 

facilities to pursue other activities, 

school has a bigger role to play. “We offer 

facilities for other activities like debates, 

quizzes, cultural activities, dramatics and 

of course sports,” he says. “We have also 

started the coaching for NTSE and IIT for 

students of classes 9-12.” 

Overcoming challenges & 

raising standards… 

“We conduct regular trainings for 

our teachers and students. Very recently, 

we conducted an English development 

programme, wherein a group of students 

and teachers were taught basic English,” 

he shares. “Besides, all our staff is not 

that qualified and so we train them on a 

regular basis.” 

As far as parents are concerned, 

Mohinder tries his best to have a positive 

integration with them. “Regular orientation 

programmes and meetings are conducted 

for parents so that they get involved in the 

learning process of their child. We try to 

make them understand the importance 

of education and ask them to give their 

child an environment to study at home. 

Our focus is always on positive parenting 

and we try to inculcate the same in the 

parents of students,” he explains. 

Mohinder has also tied up with 

Mylestone for activity-based learning 

and to equip teachers with necessary 

tools. “Mylestone curriculum is specially 

designed for empowered teaching and 

easy learning. Their implementable 

and pedagogically appropriate material 

helps our students to experience the 

“why behind every concept instead of 

just mugging it up?” So far, the teachers 

and students have liked the concept and 

we hope that children will have a better 

learning experience,” he adds. 

Besides, they also try to motivate their 

students by giving them scholarships. 

“Last year, we gave scholarships worth Rs 

3.5 lakh. We also give incentive to teachers 

if children fare better,” he says. 

On present curriculum… 

Asking about the changes he would 

like to see in the present curriculum, 

Mohinder shares that he would like 

curriculum to be more career-oriented. 

“Since the competition is very high, 

students who do not score well do not know 

what to do after they finish schooling. If 

the curriculum is career-oriented, they will 

be able to recognise different streams as 

well. I think the Skill a Million programme 

of Indian government should start at the 

school level,” he opines.Mohinder also 

feels that books should be upgraded every 

five years and so should the teaching 

mechanism. “The focus should be on 

learning. Books are just tools with which 

the teachers can work. So, it is important to 

strengthen the teachers,” he says. 

Message to teaching 

fraternity… 

“Teachers should always try to improve 

their teaching methods by using different 

techniques and methods. They should 

regularly attend training workshops to 

upscale their skills. Our focus should be 

on students and learning. It is important 

to assess how much a child has learnt and 

learning should be activity-based,” he says. 


“The liaison with all stakeholders - be 

it school, teachers, parents and students 

– should be amicable. It is the duty of 

the school management to make their 

teachers comfortable and relaxed so that 

they can manage their students better and 

concentrate on learning. Schools should 

focus on overall development of students. 

Sports are very important as they are 

required for health and mental strength,” 

concludes Mohinder on a happy note. 


progress 

blended learning 

the best of both worlds 

A.K. Sinha 

Principal, Delhi Public School, Vadodara 

Quality education is the need of the day and technology has changed the way we do things and 

education is no exception. The smart class is a modernized method of education, helping students 

in better concept formation, concept elaboration, improvement in reading skills and academic 

achievement. 

At DPS, Vadodara, teachers and 

students are happy with the 

new kind of teaching-learning 

experience – via the smart classrooms. The 

classroom environment has become more 

interactive. Students participation has 

increased. Teachers are also very excited 

with this new way of teaching. Teachers 

are upgrading themselves and latest is 

being delivered in the classroom now. We 

are looking for creating an international 

forum online where students, parents and 

teachers from various places on the globe 

unite and share their teaching-learning 

experiences. 

Smart Classroom command following 

merits: 

• Smart board provides a helping hand 

to the traditional methods. 

• Smart board adds fun to monotonous 

classroom teaching. 

• Smart board materials are 

combination of audio, video and 

animations making the learning 

process interesting. 

• Smart boards are very user friendly 

and easy to operate. 

Empowering individualized 

learning of the students… 

When the teachers are teaching 

in the classroom with the traditional 

methods, in subjects like Mathematics 

and Science, students may need to 

imagine many things and understand. 

Now, what students are imagining, that’s 

not in control of the teacher. It is quite 

possible that student is not imagining 

that topic in a right way, interpreting the 

lecture wrongly and ending up in a wrong 

understanding of the topic taught. 

But same topic if being delivered 

through the smart board using animations 

and other stimulation techniques, there 

is no scope for wrong imagination as 

it is displayed on the screen the way it 

happens. This is an advantage to the 

students who are slow learners and 

having low grasping power. So, indeed 

technology is a great help not only to the 

differentiated learners but also to the 

regular learners. 

A.K. Sinha, Principal, Delhi Public 

School, Vadodara, has extensive 

experience in education. He has also 

been Principal of various overseas 

schools prior to joining Delhi Public 

School. 


Gearing up teachers for 

change… 

Since smart classrooms needs a 

different skill set of teachers, schools 

need to prepare their teachers for the 

same. Here are a few tips to make change 

over easier for teachers: 

• Teachers should have basic 

understanding of the computer 

operations. 

• A software-specific training may be 

required to be given at initial stage. 

• Teachers should develop a kind of 

inclination towards this technology 

in the classroom, keeping in mind 

that this is to make their work easy 

and not to burden them with extra 

work. 

• At initial stage, teachers may 

require to devote some extra time 

to understand the system and to 

practice the system. 

• When teacher is planning to use 

any technology in classroom, she 

should ensure in advance that the 

equipment is functioning properly 

and the material that she plan to 

take up in the class is up to date and 

relevant to the topic. 

• Teachers should verify the 

authenticity of the digital material 

before it gets delivered in class. 

Key elements that lead 

to success in an online 

learning environment… 

The key elements for success in an 

online learning environment include: 

• A quality audio-video material. 

• Readily available reference material in 

the form of audio, video or graphics. 

• Saves lots of time of teachers as 

figures and diagrams are available in 

electronic form which they otherwise 

need to draw on board. 

• Facility of recording the lecture (audio 

and video both) – so that the lecture 

can be delivered by the co-teacher in 

absence of the main teacher. 

• The interactive exercises make the 

lesson summary and conclusions 

interesting. 

Benefits of a blended 

learning approach over a 

fully online approach 

It is seen that a blended learning 

approach of traditional and online 

learning methods if far better that a fully 

online approach as: 

• Presence of teacher in class is 

mandatory to solve the student 

specific doubts. 

• In subjects like Mathematics and 

Sciences, teachers’ explanation is 

required along with the audio visual. 

• After/during the session, teacher 

interacts with the students and 

ensures that each one of them have 

understood the topic in a correct 

manner. 

• Teachers’ experiences are important 

source of learning for the students 

which cannot be ignored. 

However, sometimes a fully online 

approach is a boon for the students. For 

example, a fully online approach has its 

advantages when student is not in a 

physical condition to attend the school. 

He can go for online learning and 

attend the audio-visual lectures and can 

mail his/her queries and doubts to the 

teacher. Besides, online approach can be 

utilized for the difficult territories where 

geographical conditions are abnormal 

most of the time, the places where law 

and order is always an issue – like riots 

and terrorism affected areas. Students 

of such territories can learn online and 

complete their schooling. 

Road ahead… 

With the educators having adequate 

skills and passion for the field of teaching, 

the blended learning approach is having 

a bright future. With the span of time, the 

technology for the education may become 

cheaper and come within the reach of 

lower middle class segment of the society. 

With the use of technology, education 

institutions would be able to cater to the 

individualized needs of the learner. With 

online approach, the other stakeholders, 

like parents, guest lecturers, subject 

experts, counselors, psychiatrists may get 

involved in teaching-learning process and 

help to achieve the desired results. 



47

face-to-face 

“Education is not a business, 

it is a noble profession” 

opines Ch. Ranbir Singh of CR Bhartiya Vidya Mandir, Rewari (Haryana) 

in conversation with Varsha Verma. 

Nelson Mandela rightly said, “Education is the 

most powerful weapon which you can use to 

change the world.” According to Census of India’s 

2011 Provisional Population Totals of Rural-Urban 

Distribution in the country, of the 121 crore Indians, 

83.3 crore live in rural areas while 37.7 crore stay in 

urban areas. Hence, the importance of education in 

rural areas assumes significance. Ch. Ranbir Singh 

is one of the few people who is actively involved in 

promoting good quality education in rural areas. 

Education facilitates learning, 

knowledge and skill. It completely 

changes our mind and helps 

us to compete in today’s competitive 

environment. In rural areas, where 

people are still illiterate or semi-literate, 

finding a good school is a challenge. 

But, dedicated people like Ch. Ranbir 

Singh are striving their best to impart 

good quality education to children in 

rural areas. 

“In rural areas, 

children are totally 

dependent on schools for 

their studies as they do 

not get the opportunity to 

have additional resources 

like coachings or private 

tuitions. Parents trust 

us completely and they 

leave their children in our 

hands. So, it becomes our 

Ch. Ranbir Singh, CR Bhartiya Vidya Mandir, 

Rewari (Haryana) 


utmost responsibility to ensure that we 

give the best education to our students. 

Not only this, we try to be a role model for 

our children as well, giving them values 

which will help them make good citizens 

of tomorrow. We also feel that if a child 

is in a private school, he should not be 

requiring any additional help in the form 

of tuitions, etc,” shares Ch. Ranbir Singh 

of CR Bhartiya Vidya Mandir, Rewari 

(Haryana), who has 30 years of experience 

in education field. 

The aim… 

Ch. Ranbir Singh did his schooling 

from a government school as he belonged 

to the family of farmers. After his 

matriculation, he wanted to join Hindu 

School in Sonepat but could not do so 

due to family reasons. Since then, he 

decided to impart good quality education 

to people living in rural areas. 

He started his first school in 1991 in 

Ch. Chotu Ram haveli with the help of his 

three friends, with a meager sum of Rs 

16000, of which each friend contributed 

Rs 2000 and Rs 8000 donation was 

sourced from outside. “Later, I started 

the first branch of CR Bhartiya Vidya 

Mandir in Jhajjar in 1993 and another one 

in Rewari in 2000,” he said. “My aim is to 

promote education in rural areas and so 

we have also designed our fee structure 

to suit the masses.” 

Teachers: backbone 

of the school 

Finding a teacher might be difficult 

in rural area but Ch Singh ensures that 

they get the best teachers for their school. 

“We are ready to pay them extra as we do 

not want to compromise on the quality 

of teachers as they are the backbone of a 

school,” he said. 

Teachers training is also one of his 

prime concerns. “We train our teachers, 

conduct seminars at schools and also 

use services from Mylestone,” he said. 

Mylestone is a curriculum for schools 

specially designed for empowered 

teaching & easy learning. They offer 

implementable & pedagogically 

appropriate material for schools & 

students so that they can experience 

the “why behind every concept instead 

of just mugging it up?” Teachers get the 

well-researched lesson plans that help to 

expose the global skills and essentials 

to face the difficulties and challenges of 

today’s innovative world. The main goal 

of Mylestone is to empower the teaching 

and makes the learning techniques 

simpler. 

We need to educate 

parents about the 

value of education 

and guide them how 

to get the best out of 

their children. It is very 

rewarding and I enjoy 

working here.” 

–Prithvi Singh Bagri, 

Principal, CR Bhartiya Vidya 

Mandir, Rewari 

Other efforts… 

“Teacher-student relationship is very 

important. Since teachers are the role 

models for children, we ensure that they 

carry themselves in a manner which is 

respectable at all times and their soft 

skills are also elegant,” he said. 

“We also have a private school 

association, wherein we meet once a 

month and share our views on how to 

improve ourselves. Sometimes, we get 

valuable inputs from such meetings, 



49

which we can implement in our schools,” 

he added. 

Another important point that Ch. 

Singh shared was that they try to engage 

parents as well. “Most of the parents 

are semi-literate or illiterate, so it is our 

responsibility to make them aware of the 

progress of their children. We also try to 

visit one village every month,” he added. 

Even though the school has 

its principal, Ch. Singh takes active 

participation in all activities of the school. 

“There are co-ordinators who report to the 

principal and they are independent and 

fully responsible for their job. Both me and 

my wife are associated with the school 

as it is very close to our heart. It is not 

a business for us, it is a noble profession 

and we are working for the betterment of 

the children,” he said. 

Challenges in running a 

school in rural areas… 

The challenges faced by a private 

school in rural area are completely 

different from that of a private school in 

urban area. “Every step is a challenge. 

Here, people are mostly involved in 

agriculture and they are still dependent 

on natural factors like rain. Since it is 

a seasonal business, they sometimes 

cannot pay school fees on time. We also 

understand the nature of their business 

and so we give them sufficient time to 

deposit their fees. Money has never been 

a factor to deter any child from attending 

We train our 

teachers, conduct 

seminars at schools 

and also use services 

from Mylestone,” 

–Ch. Ranbir Singh, 

CR Bhartiya Vidya Mandir, 

Rewari (Haryana) 

the class,” he told. Being a rural area, 

continous availability of electricity is also 

adeterrent for them. Another challenge 

which Ch Singh mentioned was that 

children do not get a study environment 

at home. “That’s why we try our best to 

keep children busy at school. We give 

them fewer vacations. For 10th and 12th 

standards, we provide additional study 

hours at school,” he shared. 


“We believe that education is not 

complete without moral values and so we 

try to inculcate the values in our students. 

We also give them immense opportunities 

in sports activities so that they get a 

holistic learning environment. It is a noble 

deed to run a school and we are not here 

for business,” concludes Ch. Singh. 


E-learning 

e-learning: 

the future of education 

Technology will play a major role in education in coming times. e-learning will be a major force in 

education and it will become an indispensable instrument of learning. It will impact and enhance 

the on-campus teaching and learning experience by a huge margin. 

In the era of Internet, where everything 

is getting transformed into the digital 

or the cloud world, people are getting 

more tech-savvy and dependent on 

technology for better knowledge and 

access. The new GenX is more adaptive 

to the technology and gizmos. 

Education industry is also not very far 

from this technological revolution. There 

is a huge scope of e-Learning and it’s the 

future of education but it has a long way 

to go before it reaches there. Technology 

when used in all the stages of learning 

process can be highly impactful and 

beneficial. We have a huge scope to make 

the learning experience very powerful 

and effective in India. 

Online delivery… 

Online delivery requires enhanced 

presentation and communication skills. 

Since there is no face-to-face interaction, 

one must focus on keeping the content 

simple and yet very interesting, they can 

use small videos, diagrams, graphs and 

similar stuff. A trainer should keep one 

common language for all the students. 

One must prepare the topic well in 

advance. 

A lot depends on the choice of online 

delivery mechanism too. A good online 

mechanism provides you the good 

infrastructure and options to conduct the 

class smoothly. 

EduSaksham is an EdTech 

start-up founded by a group of IIT 

Bombay alumni with a vision to enable 

(Saksham) every child for quality 

education and to provide excellent 

learning experience at every stage of 

their academic life. They believe that 

learners grow not only at a specific 

time or in a situation but also learn 

maximum when they practice and 

the impact is visible in their results. 

The core team of EduSaksham comes 

with a rich industry experience and is 

passionate about creating a difference 

in education industry. Run by Kunal 

Deep, EduSaksham focuses primarily 

on online practice and assessment 

for K12, competitive exams and 

professional courses. 

Merits of e-learning 

The focus of the learning process is 

on knowledge management, knowledge 

navigation and knowledge synthesis. 

All are extremely important in their own 

respective ways. If you look at the current 

online education scenario, you would 

have read/ heard or experienced about 

the smart classes, test prep platforms 

and various online course providers who 

have gained popularity in the past few 

years. All the platforms/ methodologies 

have some merits and challenges. Online 

teaching connects students from different 

geographical locations. For students, they 

can now get connected with experts/ 

professionals they had just been following 

on social media. 

Online learning enhances both 

individual and collaborative 

learning. For individual 

learning, user can do online 

learning at his own pace and 

time. A learner can measure 

his own performance and 

progress. Online learning 

and assessment can provide 

an accurate picture of his 

learning curve supported 

with personalized feedback 

to each user. Same system 

can be used for collaborative 

learning where students study online 

together, ask their doubts from the peer 

group and help each other learn fast. 

Students can check their individual 

performance level and also compare their 

performance among the group. Online 

learning if used optimally can provide 

best results for individual as well as 

collaborative learning. 

It’s important to use the technology 

throughout the learning cycle, right from 

assimilating knowledge to practice to 

assessment. Online assessment of the 

conceptual knowledge and its constucts 

plays an indispensible role in the learning 

process. Learners get the clear metrics of 

his performance, benefits by identifying 

his strong and focus areas. 



51

EduSaksham team 

Online learning: which 

subjects suit best? 

At present, online assessment is 

best suited for various disciplines where 

objective type questions can be asked. 

Where creativity is required, you may be 

able to pass on the knowledge but it’s 

assessment cannot be made uniform. 

Uniform assessment means where all the 

students can be assessed on the basis of a 

uniform set of questions and uniform way 

of measuring the performance. 

For instance, you can teach Maths 

online, make a student or group of 

students practice questions and then 

assess them basis a uniform test. But 

the same can’t be replicated in a subject 

which involves the different level of 

creativity, say English. 

Challenges… 

Availability and usage of internet 

is still an issue in many parts of our 

country. Also, the next challenge here is 

to assess how much the students are able 

to understand the concepts and secondly 

how do we assess them. 

Besides, education institutions will 

have to deal with the intellectual property 

challenges in the future in certain areas 

related to the processes or methodology 

which are patented after researches. 

There is a major challenge of protecting 

content as it gets easily copied and is 

available on various platforms online 

and offline as well. Course content 

remains more or less same for each 

concept; the major differentiator will be 

the methodology and the delivery to the 

end users. 

How online teaching and 

learning affects graduate 

employability? 

India is progressing from every angle. 

There is a huge focus on the digital 

platform. More skilled resources are 

getting generated and this also means, 

competition is growing. Understanding 

the dynamics of the evolving industries 

and market disruption happening across 

various sectors, the demand for acquiring 

new skills is increasing in order to stay 

employable. 

Definitely online teaching and 

learning are both adding value to the 

employability. A good online course 

can help students/professionals to gain 

more skills/ upskilling/ reskilling in ever 

changing industry dynamics. 

Tips for schools… 

Schools are the shapers of any 

country’s economy as they help lay 

the foundation of education in every 

child’s life. 

Teachers’ have significant role in 

imparting knowledge, so they need 

to understand the importance of 

acquiring skills to teach using the new 

methodologies and get trained for it. The 

coming generation is faster and smarter. 

Every child has talent and potential and 

are unique in own ways. It’s important 

for schools and educational companies 

to come together and find the bigger 

synergies to benefit the society and the 

country as a whole. 


Online education is going to rule the 

education industry in the coming few 

years. 

Quality education can be imparted 

to the most interior regions of the 

country with the help of the technology 

at minimal cost. With the advent of 

technology and growing focus on digital 

India by the Govt, online education will 

certainly get the boost in the coming 

years. 


MEET THE EDUCATIONIST 

“Innovate and upgrade 

with changing times” 

says Jitender Singh Ahlawat, Director, R.E.D. Group of Schools, in conversation with Varsha Verma. 


Director, R.E.D. Society, Chhuchhakwas, Haryana 

The role of an educationist is to promote education while upholding the morals of students. He is 

a parallel parent, nurturing children as they grow. Jitender Singh Ahlawat, Director, R.E.D. Group 

of Schools is one such educationist who has devoted thirty years of his life into education. Here, he 

shares more about his experience of working in a rural environment, where even the basic amenities 

are a challenge. Excerpts. 

Jitender Singh Ahlawat, Director, 

R.E.D. Society, believes that 

education should foster independent 

thinking, creativity, exploration and 

experimentation as a life-long process 

- all without compromising moral and 

ethical values. “The purpose of education 

is to bring out and optimize the hidden 

potential of every child in physical, 

intellectual, emotional and spiritual 

planes. We aim to nurture them and 

prepare them for a balanced, healthy, 

happy, ever-growing, internationalminded, 

out-of-the-box thinkers living 

to make a contribution for making the 

society a better place to live,” he shares. 

Journey so far… 

“R.E.D. Society, Chhuchhakwas, 

Haryana was founded in 1987 with a 

dream to create an educational institution 

firmly rooted to Indian values but with 

a modern outlook and approach. In 

rural areas, children do not get the 

environment they need and so, we 

thought that we will try our best to 

give them the education they require,” 

shares Ahlawat. Fifteen years later, 

they opened another branch in Jhajjar, 

while the Charki, branch was opened 

in 2010. All the schools are English 

medium and are affiliated to CBSE. 



53

Jitender Singh Ahlawat, Director, R.E.D. Society, 

the parents are not educated or they 

have no time or temperament to handle 

them,” shares Ahlawat. Besides, lack of 

transportation services, power cuts and 

insufficient water supply are other basic 

problems they face. 

But, necessity is the mother of all 

inventions and Ahlawat shares that 

slowly, they came up with solutions as 

per the needs. “For example, to tackle 

the transportation problem, we first hired 

the buses, then we bought buses of our 

own. We also provide vehicles to our staff 

for easy access. It is a collective effort, 

wherein all teachers, student and schools 

co-operate,” he adds. 

As far as teachers are concerned, 

Ahlawat tries his best to get the best 

teachers by advertising for vacancies 

in national/local newspapers. “We try 

to offer best package in the sector. We 

have in-house training and orientation 

programmes at all the branches. We 

have a research and training centre in 

Chhuchhakwas,” he shares. They also 

work with Mylestone for improving 

the teachers’ skills. With Mylestone, 

teachers get the well-researched lesson 

plans that help to expose the global skills 

Curriculum – to 

change with time 

On asking about his views on the 

curriculum followed in schools, Ahlawat 

shares that though the curriculum is 

positive and balanced, but there is a need 

to upgrade as the society is changing very 

fast. “We are lagging behind countries like 

Finland and Singapore, which upgrade 

things better,” he replies. “In Finland, I 

have seen total involvement of school and 

parents which help a child to grow. The 

more it is, the better it is. If methods and 

manners and positive, it is welcome. If it 

creates coordination and teamwork with 

the school system, there’s nothing like 

that,” he adds. 

The winning edge… 

Being passionate about education, 

Ahlawat always strives his best to help 

children achieve their dreams. “Children 

should have a dream and commitment for 

future. We try to create an environment for 

career counseling, NTSE, Olympiad, etc. 

We also try to prepare our students for IIT 

and NEET exams,” he says. 

Challenges in rural 


Operating an English-medium school 

in rural environment posts its own 

challenges. “We don’t get good faculty 

easily. Then, the parental support to 

children at home is negligible as either 


and essentials to face the difficulties 

and challenges of today’s innovative 

world. The main goal of Mylestone is 

to empower the teachers and make the 

learning techniques simpler. “Infact, 

we give an environment for learning and 

growth and all teachers willingly try to 

learn and change,” he adds. 

Together…we can 

Ahlawat believes in team work and he 

shares that the responsibilities are welldefined 

to the staff and the principal. “The 

day-to-day operations are looked after by 

the staff and principal. As management, 

we try to facilitate the basic needs and 

social support. We have set rules and 

regulations, which are followed by one and 

all. We give them feedback and inputs, 

mentoring and monitoring them in the 

process,” adds Ahlawat. 

On government 

bodies support… 

“The basic reality is that the 

government tries to look after the interests 

of common man but private schools 

have their own needs as they need to 

upgrade faculty and quality of education. 

Balancing these things creates issues but 

in a democratic set up, it is important to 

consider all stakeholders,” he says. 

Message to educationists… 

“I feel that need of the hour is that 

private schools should change with the 

times so that they are successful in 

providing competitive quality education 

for being on the right side of the law. They 

must constantly innovate and upgrade 

as per the changing needs,” concludes 

Ahlawat. 



55

viewpoint 

Making schools 

tech-savvy… 

Vatsala Singh 

Director (Education & Administration) at M P Singh Foundation, 

Delhi Public School, Dehradun 

Vatsala Singh, BA, LLB, LLM, 

B.Ed., has been with Delhi Public 

School Dehradun since Oct, 2015 

taking care of the management, 

academics & administration of the 

school. She joined DPS Dehradun 

from GVN-The Global School, Bhopal 

where she was the Founder Principal 

of the school. She has also worked 

with The Sanskaar Valley School, 

International Public School – Bhopal. 

Vatsala’s experience with established 

as well as new schools has helped 

her to discern closely the constantly 

evolving needs of schools and varied 

demands of different curricula. 

She is on the advisory board of 

IECS- Indira Educational Society 

headed by Prof. Handoo & attends 

the various National level workshops 

for Principals & also takes sessions 

for leaders. She is also the recipient 

of 6th National Women Excellence 

Award 2013, The Nav Kiran Award, 

by North Eastern Council, Ministry Of 

Department of North Eastern Region, 

Govt of India. 

Education can be best interpreted as a process of learning, 

growth & achievement. Education basically is for the purpose 

of preparing for future & being equipped with the latest today. 

Innovation & research have always gone hand in hand with 

education and Smart schools is the next big thing. 

The general interpretation of a smart 

school is a school equipped with 

the latest technology in its overall 

functioning. The most prevalent and 

common aspect of a smart school is being 

IT enabled & using computer technology 

in all its functions. 

Smart classrooms 

Any technology, especially in school 

scenario, should be essentially used 

as a learning aid – to complement and 

supplement the teacher, not as the 

replacement of teacher. The advantages 

of technology are many which enable the 

teacher and learner and optimizes the 

whole process, such as: 

1. Supplementing the textual knowledge 

with visual aids in the form of a 

movie about any particular process 

or incident. 

2. Have online collaboration with any 


Vatsala Singh 

school in the world and be a part of 

learning community worldwide. 

3. A latest practice that we have done in 

school is that the teacher & children 

make a summary of the day’s learning 

subject wise and share it on a common 

platform like Whatsapp group. The 

summary has to be only a few lines. 

This is a very effective and tried and 

tested method of understanding, 

collaborative learning and learning 

beyond classroom. 

4. The teachers make question banks 

through technology which keeps on 

adding each year and it really helps 

in their work. 

5. Teachers are abreast with the latest 

innovation and information and 

progress in their particular subject. 

6. Smart schools as best equipped in 

teaching children of different learning 

styles, in the same classroom only 

by incorporating different methods 

enabled by technology. 

Document maintenance 

and record keeping 

It is needless to say how effective 

technology is in saving our paper and 

environment and also in saving time when 

searching for a particular document. 

Hence, technology can be efficiently used 

for document maintenance and record 

keeping. 

Challenges…. 

The only challenge for a teacher is 

that they have to keep abreast and be 

lifelong learners. Today, we have to 

prepare children for a future world and the 

fast pace at which the world is changing 

and growing – we do not know what we 

are preparing our children for. In such 

a scenario, it is important to be abreast 

with technological advancements. 

How smart schools 

are different? 

Every school is for the purpose of 

educating the children but Smart schools 

differ in only one aspect – they truly 

prepare the children for future as they 

incorporate the technology and teach 

the application of it to the children 

which incidentally the children have to 

in their future. I believe that it is school’s 

responsibility to make the children IT 

mature as well – meaning that they must 

know how to get the right information 

and how to protect themselves from 

the vulnerability that it causes. IT gives 

power and power always needs to be used 

most judiciously and discreetly. 



57

social networking 

Social networks– 

a boon or a bane? 

Mike Rana 

Creative Head & Founder, eFingertip Consultant Social Networking 

When we talk about social network, a phenomenon that we all love and hate, we refer to a 

methodology that connects people even when they are not in visual sight. The focus on SocialNets 

should be to get the student and parent a part of the SocialNet. So, adopting a middle path would 

make it a reality. 

In the early days of 2nd generation 

at IIT Bombay, we were constrained 

due to the unavailability of giga and 

terabytes of disk storage, screen monitors, 

mouse and fingertip inputs that today 

are in laps of school children. Thanks 

to IBM, Microsoft, Apple and Samsung 

for ushering in technology by leaps and 

bound, slowly but surely. While we fiddled 

with toggle switches to enter a binary 

machine language program those days, 

today’s generation has the luxury of highlevel 

languages. 

Mike Rana is the creative head of 

efingertip digital magazine and has 

published three books. He worked 

with computers of the 2nd generation 

and continues to work today when 

networking and clouds have appeared 

on the scene. This article is written by 

him for the school children, parents 

and the teachers. 

58 THE PROGRESSIVE SCHOOL jul-AUG-SEP 2017 

Did you know that a computer uses a 

stored program to drive the logic inside 

the machine? It’s the single most amazing 

thing that happened to computers. Take 

out the stored program and lo, you are 

left with just some idiotic hardware. 

Everything comes to life in digital devices 

when stored programs, now we call them 

applications, are made to reside inside 

them. John von Neumann and Alfred 

Boole may be turning in their graves 

seeing what all could be done by stored 

programs. 

Why is a SocialNet different 

from the others 

When researchers at MIT 

(Massachusetts Institute of Technology) 

designed the first ever network of 

computers, it only meant connecting the 

computers together, on wires and later on 

Wi-Fi. It was much later that we saw the 

management folks using the fancy word 

‘networking’ for a collection of people, 

talking face to face in conferences. 

And now when we talk about social 

network, a phenomenon that we all love 

and hate, we refer to a methodology that 

connects people even when they are not in 

visual sight. All they need is a hand-held 

device and wi-fi or a broadband network, 

available these days everywhere, even 

on trains and flights. What this form of 

communication achieves is connecting 

individuals at both its ends; unhindered, 

unsolicited and sometimes irritating. And 

this connection is irrespective of caste, 

creed, color or gender of the user. The 

trend today is the use of voice, language, 

and text language for communicating. 

Little did we realize how quickly the 

SocialNets became popular due to the 

doings of HI-5, Facebook and WhatsApp, 

and many others. And further, we might 

be moving towards a community that 

operates in a virtual workplace loaded on 

the clouds. In other words, the SocialNets 

are here to stay. 

The social networking 

trends 

Obscenity, profanity, blasphemy, 

sacrilege and many other words are used 

by the older generation to describe the 

behavior of children towards SocialNets. 

This is unfortunately totally unfounded. 

Haven’t we seen umpteen photos 

on the internet depicting three or four 

people sitting on the same bench, each 

glued to his own phone, doing practically

nothing? The one who is away 

is perhaps more important than 

the one who is sitting next. We, 

the old-timers, question why 

the hell they had to assemble if 

they were not communicating 

with each other? Both, the 

students and the elders have 

their own reasons for cursing 

and welcoming SocialNets, not 

the generation gap but because 

of it. Both are justified in their own ways. 

Just watch what the trend is. When a 

child approaches the parent, the parents 

find enough excuses to put him away 

to television, mobile phones, tablets or 

even Nets. 

So, the SocialNet is first introduced 

and promoted by parents and when 

children become obsessed with it, they 

blame the children for this mania. 

If we continue treading on this path, 

there is a chance that the child will start 

seeking advice, love, or simple mentoring 

from their peers rather from the parents. 

The matter could be worse if the family 

makes it a habit of ignoring the child and 

the child proceeds to get into a social or 

physical problem; that might ultimately 

need devoted attention from the parents. 

How many people you know spend time, 

simply time, with their offsprings and 

play with them indoors, watch the same 

cartoon networks, or give them the 

company they need? 

Building a network of 

reliable friends – what 

children should be taught 

Children, you can’t be adding a friend 

on your list just because somebody 

sent you a request. Both accepting and 

sending requests pushes you into a hardfelt 

heavy responsibility. 

If you want your virtual friends 

to be as honest, truthful and deceitproof 

as your real friends are, you must 

examine the requests from the angle of 

how the new friend’s existing posts and 

photographs currently are. This will not 

only give you a good idea of the person’s 

mentality but save you from getting 

locked on to a worthless person. And 

further, if the individual’s new posts don’t 

subscribe to your liking, the person has 

no right to be on your site. Just throw the 

person out of your network. You could use 

the Facebook feature, which converts a 

friend to an acquaintance, blocks him or 

even deletes him. 

The reverse also applies. Your own site 

should pass the inviter’s examinations. 

You both can’t be keeping your connection 

alive unless you depict to each other, your 

like-mindedness. 

Use the Facebook Help 

Facebook creates stories from the 

photos you post. Such stories have a 

telling effect on your psyche. You modify 

your behavior and attitudes according 

to what the Facebook says in your story. 

If your posts are only selfies or 

your photographs that depict you as a 

fashion-conscious person, the stories 

will highlight the outer side of you. If they 

refer to arts, science or technology your 

attitude could be branded by Facebook as 

a serious professional. So, beware, how 

you want to project yourself in front of 

your peers and the world at large. 

If Facebook can make that distinction, 

automatically by looking at your posted 

pictures, you could do the same for your 

friends. Be aware every good-looking 

girl or a smart looking guy could also 

be a potential hacker, terrorist or sexual 

offender. The software companies have 

done a yeoman’s service by bringing 

together friends, lost friends, and 

communities together, so make use of it 

but don’t be a prey to pranksters. 

One-upmanship on peers 

and on leadership 

The biggest pressure on children 

is getting accepted by their peers, and 

if possible, as leaders. It was always 

a problem we all suffered but now it 

assumes an alarming dimension. So, 

while we gather and build our network, 

this desire of excelling in one-upmanship 

will delve into our psyches dangerously. 

Instead of becoming a 

part of the whole, the 

SocialNets will plunge 

you into a network that 

is mutually detrimental 

to cohesivity. By sticking 

on or around phone or 

computer for a long time, 

you will become secluded 

and aloof, instead of the 

leadership you want to 

gain on the social network. 

Mind your 

language 

Facebook, WhatsApp, 

Twitter encourage you to 

use cryptic or textual language. 

Our survey gave us quite a good 

list of shortcuts, people use 

today like LOL, BRB, GTG, ILU, 

OMG, WTF, Pls etc. This is an 

enhancement – not a perversion 

– of language. For writing 

the structured language, it 

might be textual but it better 

be structured according to 

the rules of grammar with 

punctuations and paragraphing. 

While no one has objections to 

these textual forms, yet teachers expect 

students to be familiar with the standard 

English language, namely spelling, 

punctuations, paragraphing, composition 

writing. They shouldn’t complain that 

literacy levels are dropping, or students 

are not able to write at the desired speed 

by hand. 

Yet another trend worries us. Young 

people are increasingly prone to texting 

and shying away from making calls, 

which leads them to place on record 

whatever they communicate. This is 

more dangerous for your privacy and 

can be misused. Ironically, the speed 

at which instant messaging or texting 

takes place means that mistakes and 

shorthand are common, but that’s ok. We 

can understand what you mean. 

Further, the SocialNets promote 

writing skills against the reading skills. 

You don’t obviously read and understand 

what someone is writing but you 

expect him or her to read whatever you 

are writing. 

Grow slowly but certainly 

Live life at leisure, not at the blazing 

speed with which everybody seems to 

be attempting currently. Remember 

one can’t get a ripened fruit from a tree 

just because it was heavily manured or 

watered. Just as the fruit needs time 

and season to grow, life too needs time. 

Living life at a faster pace pushes many 



59

other tensions on your already tensed up 

mind. So, keep the pace of learning slow. 

Otherwise, one will lose the charm of 

growing in life, one will lose childhood 

and become a mechanized robot. Sooner 

or later, one will be depressed because 

one has lived it all. A day has only 24 

hours and one needs at least 8 hours to 

sleep. 

Consider for example, should the span 

of acquired knowledge be wide or deep? 

It depends on how close the student is to 

his preferred profession. If undecided so 

far, the scope of learning should be wide 

enough to cover different options but if 

you have chosen the profession, then 

delve into the subject deeply. 

Prepare yourself for today 

There is some virtue in promoting 

your interests on the SocialNets by 

posting and receiving posts related to 

your own sphere of interest. It could vary 

between writing, art forms, science and 

technology, jokes that entertain you, 

the news that interests you, music and 

sharing of photographs etc. Also, there 

are interesting sites that make you learn 

great things for management, do’s and 

don’ts on the internet, giving views of 

the learned celebrities all over the world. 

All of them cannot be listed here but 

a few are for: 

• Promoting book reading and writing 

by going to Blogger, WordPress, ezine 

sites where you can achieve the 

desired creativity in writing. Ezine 

enforces good writing by making 

you stick to grammar rules, and you 

could boast of a number of articles 

published therein. 

• On the Facebook, itself you could 

write notes and choose the best 

videos for sharing. 

• WhatsApp is a great place to share 

meaningful jokes. 

• Wordpress and Blogger allow 

you to create a webpage and 

understand progressively 

the structure of web sites 

beautifully created by the 

great others. 

• Avoid money transactions on 

the internet because you could make 

mistakes and lose a lot of money by 

frauds. 

Prepare yourselves 

for the future 

Facebook is coming out with 

interesting things in near future. Their 

focus is on creating communities, as an 

extension of families and friends. Things 

like augmented reality, virtual reality, 

artificial intelligence applied, will enable 

to interact with 

each other in real 

time, irrespective 

of which country 

you are currently 

located. You could 

see virtually, and 

in motion, friends 

or colleagues 

performing 

interesting things 

together. It will use 

cameras for converting a 2D into a 3D 

image and give you the experience of 

space and 3D around you. We are talking 

of reality, as seen and extrapolated by 

the cameras, not just the virtual reality 

that thinks of a real situation depicted by 

pictures. 

They made a start by introducing 

‘messenger’ with ‘frames put on the 

photographs’. Watch for ‘F8’ and 

‘Workplaces’. Augmented reality (AR), is 

a live direct or indirect view of a physical, 

real-world environment whose elements 

are augmented (or supplemented) by 

computer-generated sensory input such 

as sound, video, graphics or 

GPS data. 

We don’t talk about the 

abundance of knowledge on 

Wikipedia or the search engines 

by Google, we talk about 

productivity, employability, 

in different arenas from art 

to science. You learn a lot by 

connecting with the right 

people. Examine your contacts 

and cull out the unnecessary 

ones. 

Remember when you 

prepare your CV, Microsoft asks 

you for details on your handle 

on Twitter, LinkedIn, and 

email other than the erstwhile 

telephones and addresses. Addresses 

and phone numbers have lost all their 

meanings with global connectivity and 

Facebook can be blamed for ignoring the 

telephone numbers on your address book 

in favor of its messenger. 

What a school should do? 

The schools need to take an active 

part in this evolution and revolution. You 

can’t be sitting twitching your fingers 

while the others leave you far behind. You 

must participate and let your students 

become part of this revolution. Don’t 

discourage them. 

• Create a solid network for teachers 

and students using Facebook, Google 

and Microsoft Outlook. 

• Create awards for the best social 

network created by an individual. 

• Create competitions for entertainment 

on the networks (fashion, sports, IQ 

tests and travel essays). 

• Remember privacy of everyone is 

prime here. 

• Protect and block websites by 

firewalls and provide access only 

through a common platform, for 

example, Microsoft Outlook. 

• Social networking is similar to real 

networking by the students. So, 

whatever cultural activities you do 

in real do that on the school social 

network. 

• Create cases where students 

have suffered on money matters, 

psychological trauma and depression 

or drugs with sufficient advice. 

• Selected teachers should have a blog 

that pulls the students towards it. 

The focus on SocialNets should be 

to get the student and parent a part of 

the SocialNet. So, adopting a middle 

path would make it a reality. 

Remember overindulgence in 

SocialNet makes everyone lonely, 

isolated, depressed, leading to drugs 

and badly formed characters, something 

that your family doesn’t want to see in 

you, in spite they may be right now busy 

in their own networks. They care for you 

is many shades more than any friend on 

the SocialNets. 

Parents and teacher to remember, 

the students know much more than 

you and I can ever dream of knowing 

on the network. Therefore, prudence 

lies in seeing the SocialNet a boon and 

not a bane, for parents, students and 

teachers alike. 


news & events 

EU to release 25 million euros for 

school education in India 

European Union (EU) will 

soon release 25 million 

euros for India’s school 

education sector as part of its 

efforts to back schemes such 

as the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan 

and the Rashtriya Madhyamik 

Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA). The amount is part of the committed 

80 million euros that the EU has granted to support the 

educational schemes. 

Genius: not gender-neutral! 

Next time you call a 

student genius, be 

careful as Cambridge 

University examiners have 

been warned against using 

words such as flair, brilliance 

and genius when assessing 

students as these words are used for males. They want to create 

a gender-neutral environment. 

e-education industry in India to be 

worth $1.96 billion by 2021 

According to a report 

released by Google and 

KPMG, India’s online 

education industry will be 

worth $1.96 billion by 2021, an 

eight-fold increase from $247 

million in 2016. The research 

covered 3,600 respondents over 

27 cities. This increase will 

come more from tier-2 & tier-3 cities as 44% of the educationrelated 

searches are coming from non-metro cities like Patna, 

Guwahati, Aligarh and Kota. What’s more? There has been a 

four-fold increase in consumption of educational content on 

YouTube in last one year. 

The report also predicts a substantial increase in the number 

of paid users from 1.6 million to 9.6 million over the same period. 

The report identifies five major categories of online education 

— primary and secondary supplemental education, higher 

education, test preparation, reskilling and online certifications, 

and language and casual learning. By 2021, the largest share 

will belong to primary and secondary supplemental education. 

Also, the test prep category will grow fastest with a CAGR of 64%. 

A record 169 residential schools 

started in a day 

The Telangana government has 

announced that it has started as 

many as 169 residential schools in 

a day, out of 255 planned for the academic 

year 2017-18. These schools will cater to 

students from SC, ST, BC and minority categories and give 

them free education at par with private schools. Chief Minister 

K. Chandrasekhar Rao congratulated the officials who made 

this happen. 

20 world-class institutions in India 

on the anvil 

The Ministry of HRD, 

Government of India, is 

eyeing to establish ten 

World Class Institutions each 

in public and private sector in 

a reasonable time by providing 

an enabling regulatory 

environment that allow 

them to achieve the highest 

levels of global excellence 

in teaching and research. 

In order to achieve the 

aforementioned objective, the 

UGC (Institutions of Eminence 

Deemed to be Universities) 

regulations, 2017 will govern 

all such institutions that are 

conferred with this status, 

ensuring their complete 

academic, administrative and 

financial autonomy. These 

regulations will override all 

other UGC regulations and 

free the institutions of UGC’s 

restrictive inspection regime, 

the regulatory control over fee 

and curriculum. 

According to it, the 

institutions will have to achieve a place in the top 500 of any 

of the global rankings within 10 years of being declared an 

institution of eminence and eventually reach the top 100 slot. 

They will have a teacher:student ratio of 1:20 to begin with and 

1:10 in five years, with a student enrolment of 15,000 in 15 years. 

There will be a good mix of Indian and international faculty, and 

only those who come with a degree from top 500 institutions 

in global rankings will be considered eligible foreign faculty. 

Southern States spend more 

on higher education 

A 

recent study ‘Household Expenditure on Higher 

Education in India: What do we know and what does 

recent data have to say’ shows that people from rural 

and urban areas of southern states spend the most on higher 

education. On an average, an Indian spends 15.3% of the total 

household expenditure in rural and 18.4% in urban areas on 

higher education. While in the south, the corresponding figures 

are 43% and 38%. 

In terms of money, families from urban parts of south India 

spend an average of Rs 49,690 a year on higher education, while 

in rural areas, it is Rs. 36,063 per annum. 

An evaluation system 

for teachers on the cards 

The Department of School Education and Literacy, HRD 

ministry, is planning to introduce a central evaluation 

system for teachers, which will not be binding on the 

state governments. This will be an evaluation system like CAT 

or SAT and will be a benchmark for teachers. A pilot project will 

begin in Chhattisgarh in August this year. 

Jul-AUG-SEP 2017 


61

news & events 

CBSE felicitates 86 economically 

weaker students who performed 

well in exams 

Central Board of 

Secondary Education 

(CBSE) has felicitated 

as many as 86 students 

from economically weaker 

sections for performing well 

in the Class XII examinations. At the annual Guru Gaurav 

event, Union Human Resource Development Minister Prakash 

Javadekar felicitated these students. These students belonged 

to government and government-aided schools, Kendriya 

Vidyalayas and Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas. 

Rajasthan government to award girl 

toppers in the state 

As a move towards 

improving women’s 

education in 

the state, the Rajasthan 

government has recently 

announced that they will 

award cash prizes to female 

students from classes 8, 10 

and 12 who will perform 

outstandingly in their final 

exams. The government has 

also announced that class 

12 toppers and ‘Varishtha 

Upadhyay’ exam toppers 

among girls will also receive a scooty as a reward. The scheme 

will come into effect in the coming academic session of 2017-18. 

Female students studying at schools affiliated with the 

Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education (RBSE) will be eligible 

for the awards. District toppers will require a score of at least 60 

per cent to avail the reward. 

Under the scheme, Rs 40,000 will be provided to class 8 

female toppers; Rs 75,000 to class 10 female toppers and Rs 1 

lakh to class 12 female toppers. 

Three Indian universities shine at 

QS rankings 

Published annually, 

the Quacquarelli 

Symonds (QS) World 

University Rankings provides 

an overview of the 200 top 

universities in the world. 

The Indian Institute of 

Technology (IIT)-Bombay is the latest edition, joining IIT- 

Delhi and Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, in this 

group. With this, India, for the first time, has three of the top 200 

universities in the world. IIT-Bombay is ranked at 179, IIT-Delhi 

at 172 and IISc at 190. 

In the overall rankings, Massachusetts Institute of 

Technology (MIT) continues its run as the world’s best 

university for the sixth consecutive year. Stanford University 

and Harvard University follow as the world’s second and third 

best institutions. 

Another record for Super 30! 

Super 30 made 

headlines one again 

for creating a record 

of all candidates clearing 

the IIT JEE Advanced 

examinations. Last year, 28 

out of 30 candidates made 

it to IIT JEE Advanced. 

Super 30 is an 

innovative educational programme running under the banner 

of “Ramanujan School of Mathematics”. It looks for 30 meritorious 

talents from among the economically backward sections of the 

society and shapes them for India’s most prestigious institution 

- the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). 

Common curriculum and papers for 

all boards 

The Union ministry 

of human resource 

development (HRD) 

has set up an inter-board 

working group (IBWG), 

comprising eight boards, 

to work out the details for 

stopping of moderation and 

upward revision, or spiking, 

of marks. 

It is also planned that all boards will move towards adopting 

a common curriculum. To avoid confusion, the grace marks 

policy will be uploaded on websites, and marks and grades 

for extracurricular subjects will be given separately. It is also 

planned that all boards will share question papers with CBSE 

to bring about uniformity in assessment. 

IIT-JEE: still male-dominated 

Over 2.2 lakh students 

were eligible for the JEE 

(Advanced) this year, 

1.72 lakh students registered for 

the ‘Advanced’ test, of which 

1.59 lakh appeared for the test 

for the 10,000-plus seats across 

the 23 IITs. 

Of these, only 33,358 girls registered for the exam. As many 

as 86% of successful candidates this year were boys (43,318) 

while only 7,137 girls qualified the exam. 

Montreal named the best city in the 

world for students 

According to QS Best 

Student Cities, a spinoff 

from the annual QS 

World University Rankings, has 

named Montreal as the best city 

in the world for students. Paris held the first position for the 

last four years. This will make Canada a major attraction for 

international student market. Montreal offers degree courses 

in two big international languages - English (universities such 

as McGill University) and French (such as the Université du 

Québec à Montréal). 

62 THE PROGRESSIVE SCHOOL Jul-AUG-SEP 2017

The Progressive School Vol 01 Issue 04

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